NATURE   AND    CULTURE. 


HAEVEY    EICE. 


BOSTON: 
LEE   AND    SHEPARD,  PUBLISHERS. 

NEW  YORK: 
LEE,  SHEPARD,  &  DILLISTGHAM. 

1875. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  In  the  year  1875,  by 

HARVEY  RICE, 
In  the  Office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress,  at  Washington. 


BOSTON: 
RAKD,  AVERT,  &  Co.,  PRINTERS. 


CONTENTS, 


NATURE  AND  HER  LESSONS 


XL 

WOMAN  AND  HER  SPHERE 45 

III. 
EDUCATION  AND  ITS  ERRORS 91 

rv. 

AMERICA  AND  HER  FUTURE 131 

V. 

LIFE  AND  ITS  ASPIRATIONS 165 

VI. 

MISSION  MONUMENT  AND  ITS  DEDICATION 187 


272909 


NATUEE  AND  SEE  LESSONS. 


NATURE    AND    CULTURE. 


NATURE  AND  HER  LESSONS. 

NATURE  declares  herself  in  her  works.  What 
exists  beyond  her  domain,  if  any  thing,  becomes 
necessarily  a  matter  of  faith  or  imagination. 
And  yet  the  origin  of  the  material  universe 
presents  a  problem  which  neither  the  vagaries 
of  the  ancients  nor  the  speculations  of  the 
moderns  have  been  able  to  solve  in  a  satisfactory 
manner. 

In  modern  methods  of  logic,  we  reason  from 
cause  to  effect,  from  the  known  to  the  unknown ; 
but,  in  attempting  to  penetrate  the  region  of  the 
unknown,  we  are  often  left  without  a  reliable 
guide.  Analogy  may  aid,  but  cannot  assure  us. 
The  powers  of  the  human  mind,  if  not  infinite, 
may  admit  of  infinite  culture.  What  is  sup- 
posed to  be  "  unknowable "  may,  therefore, 
become  known.  However  this  may  be,  there 
is  no  divine  injunction  which  prescribes  a  limit 
to  human  possibilities. 


8  NATURE  AND  CULTURE. 

Whatever  we  may  -think  or  believe,  the 
volume  of  Nature  contains  nothing  but  truth. 
It  is,  in  fact,  God's  manuscript,  which  awaits 
interpreters,  and  which,  if  read  aright,  leaves 
nothing  to  conjecture.  Men  of  science,  in  at- 
tempting to  read  this  unerring  record,  have 
advanced  many  plausible  theories  in  relation  to 
the  processes  by  which  the  earth  acquired  its 
embodiment,  and  took  its  place  among  the  golden 
orbs  of  heaven. 

There  are  reasons  for  believing  that  matter 
has  always  existed  in  some  form  or  other,  and 
that  it  is  infinite  in  extent  as  well  as  in  duration. 
Nor  need  we  hesitate  to  infer,  from  the  knowl- 
edge we  have  of  the  various  forms  in  which 
matter  exists,  that  what  is  true  of  the  earth,  in 
its  processes  of  development,  is  equally  true  of 
every  other  planet. 

Whether  the  earth  in  its  origin  was  a  frag- 
ment thrown  off  from  some  exploded  planet 
which  had  filled  the  measure  of  its  destiny,  or 
whether  it  arose  from  the  gradual  accretion  of 
elementary  substances  diffused  in  infinite  space, 
are  questions  which  cannot  be  satisfactorily 
answered.  Either  method  is  not  only  plausible, 
but  consistent  with  the  known  laws  and  opera- 
tions of  Nature. 

It  seems  quite  probable  that  those  erratic 
bodies  known  as  comets  are  but  incipient  plan- 


NATURE  AND  HER  LESSONS.  9 

ets,  which  continue,  as  they  revolve  in  their 
mystical  flight,  to  accumulate  gaseous  matter 
until  they  have  acquired  and  condensed  a  suffi- 
cient amount  to  become  orbs,  or  worlds  ;  when, 
by  the  influence  of  physical  forces,  they  take 
their  places  in  some  one  or  other  of  the  existing 
planetary  systems.  It  is  thus,  perhaps,  that  the 
law  of  development  constructs  a  world  with  as 
much  ease  as  it  constructs  a  grain  of  sand.  Nor 
can  we  doubt  that  the  processes  of  aggregation 
and  dissolution  are  made  reciprocal  in  their 
relations,  and  perpetual  in  their  action. 

In  a  philosophical  sense,  "  life  "  and  "  death  " 
are  but  conventional  terms,  meaning  nothing 
more  than  a  change  of  matter  from  one  form  of 
existence  to  another.  Whatever  changes  may 
take  place,  matter  can  neither  be  increased  nor 
diminished.  Infinite  space,  being  an  immateri- 
ality, could  never  have  been  created,  and  cannot, 
therefore,  be  limited  or  annihilated.  In  all  prob- 
ability, it  still  is,  and  always  has  been,  filled  with 
the  elements  of  matter ;  too  subtile,  perhaps,  to 
be  perceived,  yet  destined,  in  the  course  of 
eternal  ages,  to  be  wrought  and  re-wrought  into 
infinite  varieties  of  corporeal  existences,  mineral, 
vegetal,  and  animal,  ever  progressing  from  the 
imperfect  to  the  perfect.  Thus  Nature  teaches 
us  the  lesson  that  in  perfection  dwells  the  cen- 
tral Life,  the  quickening  power  of  the  universe. 


10  NATURE  AND  CULTURE. 

In  accordance  with  this  view,  we  may  regard 
every  particle  of  matter  in  the  universe  as  the 
germ  of  a  world.  And  yet  what  are  called 
original  elements  may  be  such,  or  may  not.  Sup- 
posed monads,  or  simple  unities,  if  they  exist  at 
all,  may  be  capable  of  analysis  by  the  applica- 
tion of  physical  agencies  or  forces  as  yet  un- 
known'to  science.  Though  science  has  disclosed 
much  that  is  wonderful  in  the  mechanism  of 
Nature,  there  still  lies  before  us  an  infinite 
unknown.  Whether  ultimately  the  human  mind 
will  become  so  enlarged  and  extended  in  its 
powers  as  to  comprehend  the  infinite,  admits  of 
no  positive  assurance ;  yet,  in  the  unrevealed 
design  of  the  great  future,  such  may  be  the 
result. 

It  is  only  in  modern  times  that  science  has 
taken  the  advanced  step,  and  led  philosophy  into 
the  beautiful  avenues  of  Nature  ;  where,  amid  the 
infinite,  she  gazes  at  the  universe,  listens  to 
the  music  of  the  spheres,  and  beholds  the  golden 
wealth  of  the  infinite  displayed  on  every  side. 
It  is  thus  that  philosophy  has  become  inspired 
with  a  desire  to  account  for  every  thing,  and 
finds  that  Nature  has  written  her  own  history 
in  the  hills  and  in  the  rocks,  in  the  depths  of  the 
sea,  and  in  the  stars  of  heaven,  leaving  nothing 
more  to  be  done  than  to  read  the  record,  and 
accept  its  truthful  teachings.  In  fact,  the  mate- 


NATURE  AND  HER  LESSONS.  11 

rial  universe  may  be  regarded  as  an  outspoken 
revelation  of  the  infinite. 

The  elementary  substances  which  compose 
the  earth  and  its  atmosphere  are  essentially  the 
same,  and  are  not  numerous,  so  far  as  ascer- 
tained. The  leading  vital  principle  is  oxygen, 
which  constitutes  at  least  one-half  of  all  known 
matter.  The  earth's  crust  is  estimated  to  be 
about  fifty  miles  thick.  This  estimate  is  based 
on  the  fact,  that,  in  penetrating  the  earth,  the 
heat  uniformly  increases  at  a  rate  which  would 
fuse  all  mineral  substances  at  that  depth. 

Hence  the  interior  of  the  earth  is  believed  to 
be  a  region  of  molten  substances,  fiery  billows 
that  roll  impatient  of  restraint,  and  escape,  here 
and  there,  in  the  form  of  volcanic  eruptions. 
Volcanoes  are,  therefore,  but  the  outposts  of 
gigantic  central  forces,  and  earthquakes  but  the 
spasmodic  trials  of  their  strength.  It  would 
seem,  go  where  we  will,  that  "fiery  billows" 
literally  roll  beneath  our  feet.  What  Nature's 
ultimate  designs  are,  it  is  impossible  to  predict. 
But  it  is  pretty  certain  that  her  internal  fires 
are  working  out  some  mystical  problem.  A 
scientific  German  has  recently  ascertained  that 
the  surface  of  the  earth  is  gradually  becoming 
hotter,  and  that  in  five  hundred  millions  of 
years  it  will  attain  to  such  a  degree  of  heat  as 
to  destroy  human  life.  And  yet  there  are 


12  NATURE  AND  CULTURE. 

other  scientists  equally  wise,  perhaps,  who  as- 
sert that  the  earth's  crust  is  gradually  cooling 
and  contracting,  and  therefore  radiating  less 
heat ;  the  final  result  of  which  will  be  the  de- 
struction of  all  life,  and  a  return  of  the  glacial 
period. 

Geological  science,  as  well  as  revelation,  im- 
presses us  with  the  belief  that  in  the  beginning 
"the  earth  was  without  form,  and  void,"  —  a 
chaos  of  atoms  which  were  gathered,  comet-like, 
from  infinite  space,  and  made  to  revolve  in  a 
globular  mass  by  physical  forces,  until  it  became, 
by  the  condensation  of  its  vapory  atmosphere, 
submerged  in  a  flood  of  dark  and  interminable 
waters.  In  consequence  of  the  action  of  the 
waters  on  mineral  substances,  vast  deposits  of 
sediment  accumulated ;  which,  with  the  aid  of 
pressure  and  chemical  heat,  gradually  hardened 
into  rocks,  strata  upon  strata,  like  solid  ma- 
sonry, and  varying  in  thickness  from  the  fraction 
of  a  mile  to  thirty  miles,  or  more.  Nature  seems 
to  have  adopted  this  method  of  construction,  as 
a  prerequisite  to  the  severance  of  the  land  from 
the  waters.  In  effecting  this  object,  the  explo- 
sive forces,  long  confined  in  the  earth's  interior, 
are  supposed  to  have  burst  asunder  the  walls  of 
their  prison-house,  suddenly  upheaving  conti- 
nents and  mountains  from  the  depths  of  a  dismal 
and  shoreless  ocean.  It  was  then  that  the 


NATURE  AND  HER  LESSONS.  13 

"  dry  land  "  made  its  first  appearance,  and  was 
baptized  in  the  pure  sunlight  of  heaven. 

The  virgin  soil  of  the  earth,  when  thus  ex- 
posed to  the  genial  influence  of  the  sun,  soon 
produced  vegetal  life,  and  vegetal  life  animal 
life,  —  the  one  the  food  of  the  other.  Thus 
Nature  ever  provides  for  her  guests  in  advance 
of  their  reception.  Yet  in  her  formative  pro- 
cesses she  "  makes  haste  slowly,"  though  she 
may  sometimes  leap  to  conclusions.  Her  work 
never  ceases.  A  million  of  years  is  to  her  as  one 
day,  and  one  day  as  a  million  of  years.  Hence 
every  thing  has  its  age,  and  is  lost  in  the  ages. 
Of  this  fact,  we  have  reliable  evidence  in  the 
strata  of  the  rocks,  and  in  the  limited  field  of 
our  own  observation.  There  can  be  no  doubt 
the  earth  has  been  many  times  baptized  in  fire 
and  water,  and  its  crust  broken  into  fragments, 
and  thrown  into  strange  angles  and  relations. 
These  grand  upheavals  have  occurred  at  dates 
vastly  remote  from  each  other,  and  are  recog- 
nized by  science  as  great  geological  periods. 

The  Ages  of  Nature,  so  far  as  relates  to  the 
earth,  may  be  classed  briefly,  as  the  primary,  or 
reign  of  fishes ;  the  secondary,  or  reign  of  rep- 
tiles ;  the  tertiary,  or  reign  of  mammals ;  and  the 
modern,  or  reign  of  man.  Each  of  these  ages 
constitutes  a  grand  chapter  in  the  earth's  his- 
tory, which  is  easily  read  and  understood  by 


14  NATURE  AND  CULTURE. 

the  masters  of  geological  science.  The  same 
agencies  which  were  employed  in  constructing 
the  earth's  crust  are  still  employed  in  recon- 
structing it.  In  fact,  the  work  of  creation 
is  still  going  on  as  in  the  beginning,  if  begin- 
ning there  ever  was  in  Nature's  material  pro- 
cesses. We  see  this  illustrated  in  the  changes 
which  are  produced  on  the  earth's  surface,  in  our 
own  time,  by  the  action  of  the  rain,  the  wind, 
the  frost,  the  flood,  the  glacier,  the  volcano,  and 
the  earthquake. 

It  is  by  these  agencies  that  the  hills  and  the 
mountains  are  graded  down,  and  the  detritus  de- 
posited in  the  valleys  and  in  the  sea.  Thus  are 
valleys  enriched  and  broadened,  vast  plains  and 
deltas  created,  and  continents  enlarged.  When 
the  present  hills  and  mountains  have  been  re- 
duced to  plains,  and  the  fertility  of  the  soil  ex- 
hausted, it  is  quite  probable  that  another  grand 
upheaval  of  the  earth's  foundations  will  occur ; 
the  birth-power  by  which  new  hills  and  moun- 
tains are  lifted  up,  and  continents  changed  to 
ocean-beds,  and  ocean-beds  to  continents.  It 
is  these  mighty  changes  and  exchanges  that 
prepare  the  way,  and  fit  the  earth,  for  the  pro- 
duction of  higher  orders  of  plants  and  animals, 
and,  perhaps,  a  higher  order  of  man. 

In  the  course  of  unknown  ages,  Nature  has 
enriched,  and  extended  the  valley  of  the  Nile 


NATURE  AND  HER  LESSONS.  15 

hundreds  of  miles  into  the  sea,  by  transport- 
ing thither  the  pulverized  wealth  of  the  Abys- 
sinian mountains.  Thus  fertilized,  Egypt  has  for 
many  thousands  of  years  sustained  a  dense  pop- 
ulation. Very  justly  has  she  been  called  not 
only  the  cradle  of  mankind,  but  the  granary  of 
the  world.  In  like  manner,  the  Ganges  trans- 
ports from  the  interior  of  India  a  sufficient 
amount  of  sediment,  annually,  to  cover  a  town- 
ship, five  miles  square,  to  the  depth  of  ten  feet ; 
and  by  this  means  has  extended  the  land  hun- 
dreds of  miles  into  the  ocean.  The  Hoang,  a 
river  of  China,  by  its  deposits  of  alluvium  in  the 
sea,  has  added  an  entire  province  to  that  coun- 
try, comprising  an  area  of  ninetj^-six  thousand 
square  miles.  Indeed,  all  rivers  are  tributaries 
to  the  sea,  and  all  seas  tributaries  to  the  rivers. 
This  exchange  is  effected  mainly  by  the  rains 
and  the  snows,  the  exhalations  and  the  water- 
spouts. The  clouds  are  but  common  carriers. 
This  commerce  is  therefore  a  matter  of  mutual 
interest,  and  grows  out  of  the  positive  neces- 
sities of  sea  and  land.  Though  the  elements 
appear  to  move  in  conflict,  they  really  move  in 
perfect  harmony,  and  bring  order  out  of  seem- 
ing confusion. 

In  executing  a  gigantic  work,  no  river  has 
excelled  the  Mississippi.  This  "  Father  of 
Waters  "  has  distinctly  indicated,  in  the  record 


16  NATURE  AND  CULTURE. 

of  his  career,  the  prehistorical  age  of  the  world, 
and  the  equally  prehistorical  advent  of  man. 
In  his  "  march  to  the  sea,"  he  has  left  enduring 
landmarks ;  and  with  his  battle-axe  notched 
centuries  long  lost  in  the  mighty  past.  The 
land  which  this  majestic  river  has  formed,  by 
depositing  sediment  in  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  com- 
prises an  area  of  thirty  thousand  square  miles. 
This  deposit  or  delta  has  a  depth  exceeding 
one  thousand  feet ;  and  the  period  required  for 
its  accumulation  has  been  estimated  by  Mr. 
Lyell,  the  renowned  geologist,  at  one  hundred 
thousand  years. 

This  estimate  only  embraces  the  deposits  since 
the  river  ran  in  its  present  channel.  The  bluffs 
along  the  river  rise  in  many  places  two  hundred 
and  fifty  feet,  and  contain  shells,  with  the  re- 
mains of  the  mastodon,  elephant,  tapir,  mega- 
lonyx,  and  other  huge  animals.  It  is  evident 
that  these  bluffs  must  have  belonged  to  an 
ancient  plain  or  valley  long  anterior  to  the  pres- 
ent level.  In  several  sections  of  the  valley  as 
it  now  exists,  excavations  have  been  made 
deeper  than  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  and  successive 
growths  of  cypress-timber  found,  to  the  num- 
ber of  four  or  five  distinct  growths  ;  the  lowest 
lying  at  the  depth  of  six  hundred  feet.  Some 
of  these  trees  are  ten  feet  in  diameter,  and  have 
from  five  to  six  thousand  annual  rings  of  growth. 


NATURE  AND  HER  LESSONS.  17 

As  the  plain  of  the  river  rose  by  deposits  of 
sediment,  a  new  growth  of  cypress  was  pro- 
duced, and  is  now  supervened  by  the  live-oak 
plain,  so  called,  which  has  had  an.  existence,  as 
estimated  by  the  annual  rings  of  the  oaks,  of 
fourteen  thousand  years. 

In  excavating  for  gas-works  at  New  Orleans, 
a  human  skull  was  found  beneath  the  roots  of  a 
cypress  belonging  to  the  fourth-forest  level,  in  a 
good  state  of  preservation,  while  the  other 
bones  of  the  skeleton  crumbled  to  dust  on  ex- 
posure to  the  air.  The  type  of  the  cranium 
was  that  of  the  aboriginal  American.  Now,  if 
we  take  the  period  required  to  form  the  live- 
oak  level,  and  add  it  to  the  time  required  to 
produce  the  next  three  subterranean  growths  of 
cypress  which  overlie  the  fourth  growth  in 
which  the  cranium  was  found,  it  clearly  proves 
that  the  human  race  existed  in  the  great  Valley 
of  the  Mississippi  more  than  fifty-seven  thou- 
sand years  ago. 

Not  only  in  the  Valley  of  the  Mississippi  have 
fossil  remains  of  man  and  animals  been  discov- 
ered at  depths  and  in  formations  that  prove 
their  remote  antiquity,  but  in  many  other  parts 
of  the  world.  Not  many  years  ago,  a  human 
skull  was  found  in  Brazil,  embedded  in  a  sand- 
stone rock  overgrown  with  lofty  trees.  There 
is  still  preserved,  in  the  museum  at  Quebec,  a 
2 


18  NATURE  AND  CULTURE. 

human  skull,  which  was  excavated  from  the 
solid  schist-rock  on  which  the  citadel  now 
stands.  Human  skeletons  have  also  been  found 
in  the  island  of  Guadaloupe,  embedded  in  a  rock 
said  to  be  as  hard  as  the  finest  statuary  marble. 
Even  so  recently  as  the  year  1868,  while  sink- 
ing a  well  at  the  Antelope  station,  on  the  Union 
Pacific  Railroad,  the  workmen  penetrated  a 
rock  six  feet  thick,  and,  at  eighty  feet  below 
the  rock,  discovered  a  human  skeleton  in  such  a 
state  of  preservation  as  to  be  readily  recognized 
as  such. 

In  another  instance,  it  is  said  that  a  human 
skull  was  discovered  in  Calaveras  County,  Cal., 
at  the  bottom  of  a  shaft  which  had  been 
sunk  one  hundred  and  thirty  feet  below  the 
surface.  It  was  found  deposited  in  a  bed  of 
gravel  with  other  organic  remains,  and  beneath 
the  eighth  distinct  geological  layer  of  earth  and 
gravel ;  where  it  must  have  lain,  according  to 
the  estimate  of  Prof.  Whitney,  the  geologist, 
for  a  period  of  at  least  one  hundred  thousand 
years.  This  remote  antiquity  of  man  is  also 
confirmed  by  discoveries,  in  every  part  of  the 
world,  of  the  fossil  remains  of  domestic  ani- 
mals as  well  as  of  man,  including  implements 
of  human  invention,  such  as  flint  arrow-heads, 
stone  axes,  war-weapons,  cooking-utensils,  in 
localities  which  preclude  the  idea  of  their  be- 
longing to  an  age  that  has  a  written  history. 


NATURE  AND  HER  LESSONS.  19 

It  is  not  unfrequent  that  fossil  remains  of 
human  bones  and  of  animals  are  found  embed- 
ded in  the  coral-reef  limestone  of  Florida.  In 
fact,  says  Prof.  Agassiz,  the  whole  peninsula 
of  Florida  has  been  formed  by  successive 
growths  of  coral  reefs  and  shells.  He  estimates 
the  formation  of  the  southern  half  of  the  penin- 
sula, as  occupying  a  period  of  one  hundred 
and  thirty-five  thousand  years.  The  sea  con- 
tains ingredients  which  feed  innumerable  ani- 
rnalcula,  especially  the  polypes,  or  coral-builders, 
which  have  the  power  of  secreting  calcareous 
matter.  These  myriads  of  noiseless  architects 
are  ever  busy  in  building  for  themselves  fairy 
temples  in  the  depths  of  the  ocean,  of  the  most 
delicate  and  beautiful  workmanship,  and  in 
erecting  pyramids  and  islands,  and  in  extend- 
ing continents. 

In  the  mean  time,  there  are  other  agencies  of 
a  very  different  character  continually  at  work, 
modifying  the  earth's  surface,  and  preparing  it 
for  sustaining  a  still  higher  order  of  vegetal 
and  animal  life.  As  a  result  of  these  agencies, 
especially  the  volcanic,  it  often  happens  that 
serious  calamities  befall  the  human  family.  In 
the  course  of  a  century,  not  less  than  two  thou- 
sand volcanic  eruptions  occur  on  the  globe, 
equal  to  twenty  a  year,  or  one  every  eighteen 
days.  The  whole  number  of  volcanoes  known 


20  NATURE  AND   CULTURE. 

to  be  active  at  the  present  time  exceeds  three 
hundred  ;  and  doubtless  many  times  that  number 
have  long  since  become  extinct. 

In  Europe,  Asia,  Africa,  and  America,  there 
are  extensive  tracts  or  belts  of  country  which 
are  volcanic  in  their  character ;  and  especially  is 
this  true  of  the  entire  American  Pacific  coast, 
and  the  ocean-bed  adjoining  it.  Often  have 
long  lines  of  this  coast  been  elevated  or  de- 
pressed many  feet,  as  if  the  whole  continent 
were  afloat,  and  tossing  like  a  ship  on  a  stormy 
sea.  Neither  in  the  past,  nor  in  the  present, 
has  the  earth  seemed  to  rest  on  a  sure  founda- 
tion. Even  in  apparent  security  there  is  no 
positive  safety. 

Nature  must  and  will  exercise  her  sterner  as 
well  as  her  milder  powers.  In  achieving  gigan- 
tic works,  she  employs  gigantic  powers.  Her 
forces  are  her  own ;  and,  when  she  directs  them 
to  execute  her  mandates,  she  is  promptly  obeyed. 
She  models  and  remodels  the  earth's  exterior 
and  interior  at  pleasure,  but  never  without  a 
beneficent  design.  Earthquakes  break  up  the 
earth's  crust.  Internal  fires  melt  it.  Exploding 
gases  lift  it.  Gravitation  moulds  it.  The  at- 
mosphere cools  it.  The  sun  and  the  rain  clothe 
it  with  verdure ;  and  flowers  crown  it  with 
beauty. 

Though  Nature  has  made  for  man  ample  pro- 


NATURE  AND  HER  LESSONS.  21 

vision,  she  requires  him  not  only  to  help  him- 
self, but  to  take  care  of  himself.  Nor  does  she 
give  him  formal  notice  to  keep  out  of  harm's 
way,  when  she  wishes  to  break  up  the  earth's 
crust,  and  re-cast  it ;  but  proceeds  at  once.  She 
may  sink  or  elevate  a  continent  at  a  blow,  or 
she  may  do  it  by  slow  degrees. 

The  earliest  writers  give  us  accounts  of  terrific 
earthquakes.  Thucydides  alludes  to  volcanic 
eruptions  which  occurred  five  hundred  years  be- 
fore the  Christian  era.  In  the  vicinity  of  volcanic 
mountains,  it  has  happened  that  city  after  city,  in 
the  course  of  ages,  has  been  ingulfed,  one  upon 
another,  in  molten  lava,  or  cinders,  leaving  no 
record  behind  them  of  their  unhappy  fate.  Her- 
culaneum  lies  buried  a  hundred  feet  deep  beneath 
the  modern  city  of  Portici ;  and,  beneath  Hercu- 
laneum,  a  city  still  more  ancient  has  been  dis- 
covered, whose  name  and  history  are  entirely 
unknown.  How  many  other  cities  lie  buried  at 
the  foot  of  the  old  fire-crowned  monarch  of 
Italy,  no  one  can  tell ;  but  doubtless  there  are 
several  of  them.  What  induced  people  to 
occupy  a  locality  so  perilous,  it  is  difficult  to 
say,  unless  it  was  the  superior  fertility  of  a  vol- 
canic soil. 

No  part  of  the  world  is  exempt  from  sudden 
calamities  of  a  similar  character.  The  earth- 
quake experienced  by  the  city  of  Antioch  in 


23  XATURE  AND  CULTURE. 

Syria,  in  the  year  626,  destroyed  two  hundred 
and  fifty  thousand  people.  The  great  eruption  of 
Mount  Etna,  in  1669,  overflowed  fourteen  towns, 
containing  from  three  to  four  thousand  inhabit- 
ants each.  The  stream  of  lava  which  issued 
from  the  mountain  was  half  a  mile  wide,  and 
forty  feet  deep,  and  swept  every  thing  before  it, 
until  lost  in  the  sea.  The  earthquake  at  Lisbon, 
in  1775,  killed  sixty  thousand  persons  in  six 
minutes.  The  shock  was  felt  in  Switzerland, 
in  Scotland,  in  Massachusetts,  and  on  the  shore 
of  Lake  Ontario.  In  1783  a  large  river  in  Iceland 
was  sunk  into  the  earth  by  volcanic  action,  and 
entirely  obliterated.  In  1792  an  earthquake  in 
the  island  of  Java  sunk  a  tract  of  land  fifteen 
miles  long,  and  six  miles  wide,  carrying  down 
with  it  forty  small  villages.  In  our  own  coun- 
try and  in  our  own  neighborhood,  in  1811,  sev- 
eral islands  in  the  Mississippi  River,  near  New 
Madrid,  were  sunk  by  an  earthquake,  and  the 
course  of  the  river  driven  back  eighteen  miles, 
causing  it  to  overflow  the  adjacent  lands.  About 
half  the  county  of  New  Madrid,  as  well  as  the 
village,  was  submerged.  Several  new  lakes 
were  created,  one  of  which  was  sixty  miles 
long,  and  several  miles  wide.  The  earth's  sur- 
face rose  in  undulations  like  the  billows  of  the 
sea,  and,  with  terrific  utterances,  opened  yawn- 
ing chasms,  from  which  vast  columns  of  sand  and 


NATURE  AND  HER  LESSONS.  23 

water,  and  a  substance  resembling  coke,  were 
thrown  out.  The  whole  face  of  the  country  in 
that  region  was  materially  changed.  And, 
what  is  a  little  singular,  one  of  the  lakes  thus 
created  by  the  earthquake  extended  to  the 
river  at  a  point  nearly  opposite  the  famous 
Island  No.  10,  thus  affording  a  natural  canal  by 
which  the  Union  forces,  in  the  late  civil  war, 
approached  and  took  the  island.  It  would 
seem  that  even  earthquakes,  though  they  shake 
the  Union,  still  aim  to  preserve  it. 

It  is  not  improbable  that  the  entire  chain  of  our 
great  north-western  lakes,  from  Ontario  to  Su- 
perior, were  created  by  the  volcanic  collapse  of 
a  mountain  range  that  once  occupied  the  same 
localities.  Of  this  fact  there  are  plausible,  if 
not  irresistible  evidences  to  be  seen  in  the  vol- 
canic character  of  the  rocks  at  various  points 
along  the  entire  coast.  Nor  can  it  be  very  well 
doubted  that  subsequent  volcanic  action  has 
elevated  much  of  the  coast  into  several  corre- 
sponding ridges,  from  one  to  two  miles  apart, 
which  distinctly  mark  the  successive  boundaries 
of  these  inland  seas. 

Nature  removes  mountains,  or  creates  them 
at  pleasure.  She  also  makes  and  unmakes  lakes 
and  rivers,  to  say  nothing  of  oceans  and  conti- 
nents. In  California,  and  doubtless  in  other 
parts  of  the  world,  there  are  as  many  dead  as 


24  NATURE  AND  CULTURE. 

living  rivers.  The  miners  of  California  have 
already  discovered  the  old  channels  of  a  dozen  or 
more  dead  rivers,  as  they  call  them,  incased  and 
sealed  up  in  the  very  heart  of  the  mountain 
ranges,  and  extending,  in  some  instances,  hun- 
dreds of  miles  in  the  general  direction  of  the 
ranges  ;  and  leaping  from  mountain  to  mountain 
at  a  common  level  or  grade.  These  ancient  chan- 
nels are  filled  with  sand,  gravel,  and  small  bowl- 
ders, evidently  worn  and  polished  by  long  attri- 
tion. Some  of  the  channels  are  a  mile  wide,  or 
more,  and  from  ten  to  one  hundred  feet  deep. 
In  the  angles  or  eddies,  the  sands  are  found  to 
be  exceedingly  rich  in  gold,  sometimes  yielding 
fifty  dollars  or  more  to  the  cubic  yard.  It  is 
estimated  that  over  three  hundred  millions  of 
dollars  have  already  been  taken  from  the  sands 
of  these  dead  rivers,  and  that  they  are  now 
yielding  at  least  ten  millions  a  year.  It  is  evi- 
dent that  these  dead  rivers  must  have  been  liv- 
ing rivers  long  before  the  volcanic  era  arrived, 
which  elevated  the  ancient  valleys  into  moun- 
tain ranges,  and  depressed  the  ancient  mountain 
ranges  into  valleys. 

In  the  South-American  earthquake  of  August, 
1868,  thirty  thousand  lives  were  lost,  several 
cities  entirely  obliterated,  and  three  hundred 
millions  of  dollars  worth  of  property  destroyed. 
A  tidal  wave,  more  than  forty  feet  deep,  swept 


NATURE  AND  HER  LESSONS.  25 

over  the  land,  and  deposited,  high  and  dry,  and 
beyond  recovery,  several  first-class  ships.  The 
effect  of  this  earthquake  was  felt  along  the  coast 
for  a  distance  of  six  to  seven  thousand  miles.  In 
October  of  the  same  year,  the  city  of  San 
Francisco  was  visited  by  an  earthquake,  which 
shattered  many  buildings,  and  destroyed  several 
lives.  It  is  supposed  that  this  was  but  a  pro- 
longation of  the  South-American  earthquake. 

In  some  parts  of  California  and  South  Amer- 
ica, thunder  and  lightning  seldom  occur,  while 
earthquakes  are  frequent.  In  regions  like  these, 
earthquakes  would  seem  to  be  a  substitute  for 
thunder  and  lightning.  In  all  probability,  both 
are  but  electrical  phenomena,  differing  only  in 
the  fact  that  the  one  is  an  earthquake,  the 
other  a  skyquake.  It  is  in  plains  and  valleys  that 
earthquakes  prove  the  most  destructive.  Doubt- 
less the  solid  material,  composing  the  mountain 
ranges,  affords  a  better  conductor  of  electricity 
than  the  alluvial  soil  of  the  plains  and  the  val- 
leys. Hence,  while  the  one  serves  as  a  light- 
ning-rod, the  other  becomes  the  battle-ground 
of  conflicting  elements.  It  may  be  that  elec- 
trical forces  are  generated  in  the  earth's  inte- 
rior, as  well  as  in  the  atmosphere,  and  that  the 
earthquake  is  but  the  shock  produced  by  the 
restoration  of  an  equilibrium.  The  earth  and 
the  atmosphere  are  essentially  the  same  in  their 


26  NATURE  AND  CULTURE. 

elements,  and  are  ever  contributing  of  their 
substance  to  the  requisitions  of  each  other. 

When  physical  science  shall  be  so  far  ad- 
vanced as  to  explain  the  true  causes  of  the 
earthquake,  if  it  does  not  make  man  "  master 
of  the  situation,"  it  will  doubtless  place  in  his 
hands  the  power  of  avoiding,  to  some  extent  at 
least,  the  calamities  which  now  so  often  befall 
life  and  property. 

The  earth  in  her  physical  aspects  seems  like 
a  veritable  thing  of  life,  possessed  of  flesh, 
blood,  and  bones,  —  her  flesh,  the  soil ;  her 
blood,  the  rivers  and  the  seas ;  her  bones,  the 
rock-ribbed  mountains  ;  her  nostrils,  the  volca- 
noes ;  her  breath,  the  winds ;  her  eyelids,  the 
skies ;  her  tears,  the  dew-drops ;  her  song,  the 
melody  of  birds ;  her  smile,  the  flowers  ;  and 
her  raiment,  the  sunbeams.  It  is  the  delight 
of  her  life  to  provide  for  her  household,  and  at 
the  same  time  dance  to  the  "  music  of  the 
spheres." 

But,  dropping  metaphors,  there  can  be  no 
doubt  the  earth  is  a  physical  necessity  not  yet 
fully  developed.  Only  about  one-fourth  part 
of  its  surface  is  land,  the  remainder  water. 
Nearly  three  times  more  land  lies  north  of  the 
equator  than  south  of  it.  Why  this  should  be 
so,  is  not  quite  clear.  In  the  course  of  the 
earth's  future  development,  however,  it  is  not 


NATURE  AND  HER  LESSONS.  27 

improbable  that  additional  continents  and 
islands  will  appear,  and  the  waters  subside  into 
narrower  and  deeper  channels,  thus  giving  to 
man,  and  to  land-life  generally,  a  wider  domain. 
And  yet  the  present  seas  were  not  made  in  vain, 
but  have  always  abounded  with  plant-life  and 
animal-life,  though  of  an  inferior  order  as  com- 
pared with  land-life.  Life  in  itself  is  infinite, 
and  appears  in  infinite  varieties  both  on  land 
and  in  the  sea.  Whether  man  needs  more  land 
for  his  use  and  future  development,  is  difficult 
to  say.  At  any  rate,  every  thing  that  exists 
has  its  mutual  relations,  and  adapts  itself  to  the 
ultimate  aim  of  Nature,  the  perfection  of  man. 

In  the  Western  Hemisphere,  the  mountains 
take  the  general  direction  of  north  and  south  ; 
in  the  Eastern,  the  general  direction  of  east 
and  west.  In  the  one  hemisphere,  the  ranges 
essentially  accord  with  the  lines  of  longitude ; 
in  the  other,  with  the  lines  of  latitude.  These 
mountain  ranges  are  but  continental  watersheds, 
from  which  flows  the  elemental  wealth  that 
enriches  the  plains  and  the  valleys.  The  rivers 
and  their  tributaries  are  the  commercial  agents. 
The  rain  and  the  frost  are  the  miners  whose 
labors  will  never  cease  until  the  mountains  are 
levelled.  The  mountains  also  attract  and  guide 
the  storms,  and  modify  their  force ;  condense 
the  mists,  the  raindrop,  and  the  dewdrop  ;  and 


28  NATURE  AND  CULTURE. 

thus  aid  in  refreshing  the  valleys  in  connection 
with  the  heat  of  the  sunbeams.  In  this  way 
the  seasons,  as  well  as  the  elements  of  the  soil, 
are  so  modified  and  vitalized  as  to  give  to  man 
seedtime  and  harvest,  and  needful  food  to  every 
"  living  and  creeping  thing." 

In  addition  to  the  world  of  life  that  is  visible, 
there  is  a  world  of  life  that  is  invisible ;  a  mi- 
croscopic realm  of  animalcula,  which  "  live  and 
move  and  have  their  being  "  in  every  element 
of  life,  and  in  every  life,  and  yet  are  so  minute 
as  to  be  imperceptible  to  the  naked  eye.  These 
invisibles,  or  infusoria,  abound  everywhere 
and  in  every  thing.  They  pervade  the  sea,  the 
land,  the  air.  They  swarm  in  every  drop  of 
water,  and  revel  in  every  morsel  of  food.  We 
can  neither  eat  nor  drink  without  infringing  on 
their  domain,  and  consigning  myriads  of  them, 
perhaps,  to  an  unprovoked  destruction.  They 
are  almost  as  various  in  grade,  size,  and  shape, 
as  they  are  numerous.  Some  are  hideous,  while 
others  are  comely.  They  feed  on  each  other, 
the  superior  on  the  inferior,  and  are  ever  strug- 
gling for  life  and  for  the  mastery.  They  engage 
in  the  "  battle  of  life  "  to  sustain  life,  and  hold 
to  the  doctrine  that  to  the  "  victors  belong  the 
spoils."  It  is  an  ascertained  fact,  that  a  speck 
of  potato-rot,  the  size  of  a  pin-head,  contains 
hundreds  of  these  little  ferocious  animals,  fight- 


NATURE  AND  HER  LESSONS.  29 

ing  and  devouring  each  other  without   mercy 
and  without  cessation. 

What  seems  still  more  surprising  is,  that  they 
probably  have  a  perfect  organization,  —  heart, 
lungs,  stomach,  circulation  of  blood,  and  are 
endowed,  perhaps,  with  all  the  five  senses.  In- 
finite numbers  of  them,  it  is  supposed,  exist  in 
so  minute  a  form,  that  no  microscope,  however 
great  its  power,  can  detect  them.  Nor  need  we 
doubt  that  even  these  living  invisibles  are  beset 
with  parasites  vastly  minuter  than  themselves, 
which  feed  and  breed  on  their  surfaces.  In  the 
very  blood-circulation  of  the  minutest,  it  is  not 
improbable  that  other  infusoria,  still  more  mi- 
nute, swim  and  prey  upon  each  other.  The 
uses  for  which  this  invisible  world  of  life  was 
created,  though  doubtless  for  a  wise  purpose, 
cannot  be  comprehended.  Yet  it  is  evident 
that  every  living  thing,  however  minute,  has  a 
destiny  of  some  sort,  ever  progressing,  it  may 
be,  from  a  lower  to  a  higher  sphere,  from  the 
material  to  the  spiritual,  from  the  finite  to  the 
infinite. 

"  All  are  but  parts  of  one  stupendous  whole, 
Whose  body  Nature  is,  and  God  the  soul." 

The  atmosphere,  supposed  to  extend  sixty 
miles  in  height,  surrounds  the  earth  like  an 
invisible  ocean,  and  gives  to  it,  almost  entirely, 


30  NATURE  AND  CULTURE. 

its  life-material.  In  fact,  the  atmosphere  is  the 
great  reservoir  of  the  vital  elements,  from  which 
is  derived  the  principal  part,  if  not  all,  the 
material,  solid  or  liquid,  which  enters  into  the 
composition  of  both  plant  and  animal,  whether 
it  be  a  blade  of  grass,  a  leaf,  or  a  tree  ;  an 
insect,  a  fish,  or  a  man.  It  is  true,  however, 
that  animal-life  is  more  directly  the  outgrowth  of 
plant-life ;  and  yet  the  vital  forces  of  both  are 
derived  from  the  air,  and  return  to  the  air  by 
solar  agencies.  It  is  quite  certain  that  all  mat- 
ter, as  seen  embodied  in  various  forms,  consists 
entirely  of  certain  gases  condensed  or  solidified 
by  chemical  laws.  The  atmosphere  itself,  and 
probably  infinite  space,  are  filled  with  matter  in 
the  gaseous  form,  or  in  some  unknown  form, 
destined  to  be  condensed,  dissolved,  and  re- 
condensed  in  a  series  of  changes  as  continuous 
as  the  infinite  ages. 

In  this  sense,  not  only  the  earth,  but  every 
other  planet,  contains  within  itself  the  seeds  of 
its  own  dissolution.  Yet  matter,  whatever  its 
form,  is  still  indestructible,  and  will  forever 
retain  its  vital  forces.  It  would  seem  that  life 
is  the  soul  of  matter,  and  that  electricity  is  the 
soul  of  life ;  immaterial,  it  may  be,  and,  if  so, 
then  immortal.  Where  the  material  ends,  or 
where  the  spiritual  begins,  it  is  impossible  to 
say.  Of  spirit  or  soul,  we  know  nothing ;  nor 


NATURE  AND  HER  LESSONS.  31 

can  we  prove  their  existence,  unless  we  accept 
the  proofs  as  furnished  by  revelation.  It  is 
certain,  however,  that  our  moral  character  sur- 
vives us,  and  continues  to  have  an  influence  in 
the  world  for  good  or  for  evil,  "  according  to 
the  deeds  done  in  the  body."  This  fact  is 
something  which  we  can  comprehend  as  consti- 
tuting the  ideal  of  our  spiritual  existence.  Nor 
need  we  doubt,  that,  in  discharging  our  duties  to 
our  fellow-men,  we  discharge  our  duties  to  God. 

Everywhere  about  us,  and  especially  in  at- 
mospheric phenomena,  we  see  an  epitome  of 
Nature's  processes  and  marvellous  formative 
power.  Not  a  snowflake  falls  to  the  ground 
that  does  not  bring  with  it  a  crystallization  of 
the  most  beautiful  specimens  of  artistic  em- 
broidery, far  excelling  the  finest  needlework 
ever  wrought  by  woman's  hand.  The  same  is 
true  of  the  silver  frostwork  traced  on  the  win- 
dow-pane by  the  delicate  touch  of  invisible  fin- 
gers. In  truth,  every  gem  that  glitters  in  the 
mine,  every  flower  of  the  field,  and  every  star 
in  the  sky,  is  but  a  crystallized  expression  of  the 
beautiful,  blended  with  a  silent  love  that  is  pure 
and  heartfelt,  as  if  akin  to  us.  In  reality  they 
are  our  kindred,  and  we  are  their  kindred. 

Nature  seems  to  delight  in  creating  the  won- 
derful, as  well  as  the  beautiful,  and  often  com- 
bines both  in  the  same  exhibition.  Hence  she 


32  NATURE  AND   CULTURE. 

entertains  us,  occasionally,  with  a  magnificent 
display  of  fireworks,  known  as  northern  lights  ; 
or  with  an  apparent  shower  of  falling  stars  ;  or 
with  the  sudden  descent  of  an  aerolite,  all  ablaze, 
as  if  dropped  from  the  fiery  forge  of  the  sun ; 
or  with  a  brilliant  comet,  which,  with  its  long 
and  glittering  trail,  sweeps  in  ladylike  style  the 
star-dust  from  the  pavement  of  the  sky.  These 
singular  occurrences,  though  sometimes  re- 
garded as  ominous,  are  but  a  part  of  Nature's 
systematic  operations.  They  cannot,  with  any 
foundation  in  truth,  be  attributed  to  accident; 
for  it  is  impossible  that  accidents  should  happen 
in  the  workshops  of  Nature,  or  in  the  adminis- 
tration of  her  government. 

How  the  various  meteors  are  actually  formed, 
or  whence  they  come,  is  a  mystery  which  has 
induced  much  speculation  among  scientific  men. 
Some  say  they  are  volcanic  fragments  thrown 
from  the  moon,  or  from  some  distant  planet,  or 
perhaps  from  a  crater  of  the  sun  ;  while  others, 
with  more  reason,  suppose  that  they  are  gener- 
ated in  space,  or  in  the  earth's  atmosphere,  and 
are  nothing  more  than  condensed  gases  which 
constitute  the  elements  of  solid  matter,  and 
which  become,  in  some  instances,  so  hardened 
by  chemical  action  as  to  assume  the  solidity  of 
stone  or  iron. 

And  hence  it  often  happens  that  the  latter 


NATURE  AND  HER  LESSONS  33 

class  of  these  erratic  strangers  fall  from  the  sky 
to  the  earth  with  a  terrific  explosion.  In  an- 
cient times  their  appearance  was  regarded  as 
portentous  of  national  or  individual  calamities. 
The  Chinese  have  records  of  meteoric  showers, 
and  the  fall  of  aerolites,  which  occurred  more 
than  six  hundred  and  forty  years  before  the 
Christian  era.  The  Greeks  and  Romans  ob- 
served and  recorded  similar  phenomena.  Be- 
tween the  years  903  and  1833,  not  less  than 
nineteen  periodical  star-showers  have  been  re- 
corded. The  regular  period  of  their  occurrence 
is  once  in  every  thirty-three  years,  or  there- 
about, and  usually  about  the  middle  of  Novem- 
ber. But  what  are  called  sporadic  meteors,  or 
shooting-stars,  are  of  frequent  occurrence,  and 
may  be  seen  almost  every  evening  in  the  year. 

The  most  brilliant  meteoric  shower  on  record 
is  that  of  1833,  when  meteors  fell  at  the  rate 
of  two  hundred  and  forty  thousand  per  hour, 
creating  the  impression  that  all  the  stars  of 
heaven  had  been  unsphered,  and  were  falling 
like  a  sheet  of  fire  to  the  earth,  and  threaten- 
ing a  universal  conflagration.  Occurring  as  it 
did  at  midnight,  and  continuing  for  two  or 
more  hours,  thousands  of  people,  who  witnessed 
the  scene  with  fear  and  trembling,  supposed  the 
day  of  judgment  had  come.  In  just  thirty- 
three  years  after  this,  Nov.  14,  1866,  occurred 

3 


34  NATURE  AND   CULTURE. 

another  periodical  shower  of  a  similar  charac- 
ter, which,  though  less  brilliant,  was  seen  on  a 
more  extended  scale  in  Europe  than  in  the 
United  States.  Why  .this  apparent  storm  of 
fire  should  occur  every  thirty-three  years,  is  a 
mystery  which  science  has  not  yet  been  able  to 
explain.  It  may  be  a  part  of  the  machinery 
of  our  planetary  system,  and  is,  perhaps,  as  reg- 
ular in  its  revolutions  as  the  planets  ;  or  it  may 
be  a  method  of  dissipating  an  over-accumula- 
tion in  the  earth's  atmosphere,  or  in  infinite 
space,  of  inflammable  gaseous  matter,  which  thus 
ignites  spontaneously,  and  presents  to  the  eye 
the  appearance  of  burning  sparks  flying  off,  as 
it  were,  from  the  broad  anvil  and  ponderous 
sledge  employed  in  the  great  workshop  of  Na- 
ture. Be  this  as  it  may,  meteoric  showers,  so 
far  as  known,  have  always  proved  harmless  in 
their  results. 

But  the  aerolite  assumes  a  more  formidable 
character.  In  outline  it  is  a  globular  mass 
heated  to  intensity,  and  in  its  approach  comes 
with  a  hissing  sound,  and  usually  explodes  in 
the  atmosphere  or  when  it  strikes  the  earth. 
Its  fragments  show  that  it  is  a  solid  body,  com- 
posed mostly  of  a  ferruginous  material.  The 
illumination  it  creates  in  its  passage  through 
the  atmosphere  is  sometimes  seen  at  the  dis- 
tance of  five  or  six  hundred  miles.  Erratic 


NATURE  AND  HER  LESSONS.  35 

masses  of  this  kind  have  been  known  to  fall  in, 
all  ages  and  in  all  countries,  and  are  of  frequent 
occurrence. 

So  recent  as  the  year  1867  an  aerolite  of  large 
dimensions  fell  in  Tennessee,  penetrating  a  hill- 
side of  rocky  formation  to  the  depth  of  twenty 
feet.  It  was  seen  at  a  great  distance,  and  came 
hissing  on  its  way  like  a  planet  on  fire,  and, 
when  it  struck  the  earth,  produced  a  shock  like 
that  of  an  earthquake.  So  intensely  heated 
was  it,  that,  for  three  days  after  it  fell,  it  gener- 
ated, and  sent  up  from  the  moist  earth,  a  dense 
column  of  steam,  which  rose  and  floated  away 
like  a  cloud  in  the  sky.  When  excavated,  its 
mass  was  found  to  be  composed  principally  of 
iron,  and  measured  seven  feet  from  apex  to 
base,  and  ten  feet  in  circumference.  Fragments 
of  it  have  been  preserved,  and  may  be  seen  at 
Washington,  and  in  several  collections  of  min- 
erals belonging  to  scientific  individuals.  But 
where  did  it  come  from  ?  Did  it  come  from  the 
sun,  the  moon,  the  earth,  or  from  some  exploded 
planet  ?  or  was  it  generated  in  the  atmosphere  ? 
Though  the  question  has  not  been  satisfac- 
torily answered,  there  are  plausible  reasons  for 
believing  that  aerolites,  and  meteors  generally, 
are  the  spontaneous  production  of  atmospheri- 
cal agencies.  Physical  forces  are  at  work  all 
over  the  earth,  charging  the  atmosphere  with 


36  NATURE  AND   CULTURE. 

the  identical  materials  that  compose  the  mete- 
oric stone,  or  aerolite.  Volcanoes  emit  their 
gases,  and  hurl  with  terrific  force  burning  frag- 
ments of  rock  into  the  depths  of  the  sky.  The 
tornado,  or  land-spout,  takes  up  in  its  grasp 
sand,  with  other  solid  material,  and  rotates  it 
with  such  violence  as  to  produce  fusion  of  the 
mass,  giving  it  a  globular  form,  and  hurling  it 
to  an  invisible  height,  and  then  leaving  it  to 
gravitate  brilliantly  and  rapidly,  until  it  reaches 
the  earth.  This  theory  is  confirmed  by  many 
facts,  and  especially  by  the  occurrence  of  a  land- 
spout  near  the  village  of  Ossonval  in  France, 
where,  on  the  6th  of  July,  1822,  some  broken 
clouds,  coming  from  different  directions,  and 
collecting  over  the  sandy  plain,  formed  a  single 
cloud  which  covered  the  heavens,  when  an  elon- 
gated nether  portion  of  it  descended,  present- 
ing its  vortex  downward,  and  having  its  base  in 
the  cloud.  It  then  became  violent  in  its  revo- 
lutions, and,  being  driven  by  the  wind,  over- 
turned buildings,  uprooted  trees,  twirling  them 
in  the  air  with  liberal  quantities  of  sand  and 
water,  which  it  had  scooped  up  in  its  course, 
when,  from  its  centre,  amid  sulphurous  vapors, 
globes  of  fire  were  seen  to  issue,  as  if  projected 
from  an  engine  of  terrific  power,  attended  with 
a  sound  like  that  of  heavy  cannon  discharged 
in  the  distance.  Throughout  its  entire  course  it 


NATURE  AND  HER  LESSONS.  37 

left  the  fearful  traces  of  its  devastation.  The 
globes  of  fire  which  were  projected  from  its 
centre,  it  may  well  be  supposed,  possessed  all 
the  characteristics  of  veritable  aerolites,  and 
were  thus  manufactured  by  electrical  heat  and 
fusion  out  of  the  earth-material  lifted  from  the 
plain. 

Not  long  since,  there  fell  near  Romney,  Ind., 
an  aerolite  in  a  liquid,  or  molten  state,  which 
flew  into  fragments  the  moment  it  struck  the 
earth's  surface.  The  spot  where  it  fell  was 
deeply  indented  and  scorched ;  and  the  material 
of  which  it  was  composed  was  found  scattered 
about  in  the  vicinity,  having  the  appearance  of 
cinders,  yet  moulded  into  the  form  of  small 
spherical  bodies  varying  in  size  from  a  buck- 
shot to  that  of  a  cannon-ball.  It  is  somewhat 
remarkable,  that,  in  subjecting  fractured  por- 
tions of  the  cinders  to  intense  heat,  no  percep- 
tible odor  was  emitted,  neither  was  the  color  or 
weight  changed.  The  fact  that  these  cinders 
descended  in  spherical  bodies  would  seem  to 
indicate  that  the  parent  mass  approached  the 
earth  in  a  state  of  fusion,  projecting  from  its 
surface,  as  it  revolved,  detached  fragments, 
which,  taking  a  rotatory  impulse,  became  its 
attendant  satellites  in  accordance  with  planetary 
laws. 

Among  many  other  aerolites  that  have  fallen 


38  NATURE  AND   CULTURE. 

in  different  parts  of  our  country,  one  of  consid- 
erable magnitude  was  seen  to  fall  near  Concord, 
Muskingum  County,  O.,  on  the  1st  of  May, 
1860.  It  approached  the  earth  with  a  brilliancy 
as  vivid  as  the  sun,  and  exploded  when  it  struck. 
Several  fragments  of  it  were  excavated  while 
quite  hot,  one  of  which,  weighing  eleven  pounds, 
has  been  deposited  in  the  Historical  Rooms  at 
Cleveland.  It  is  composed  of  ferruginous  mat- 
ter, and  seems  almost  as  heavy  as  pure  iron. 

It  is  impossible  for  us  to  comprehend,  from 
the  standpoint  we  occupy  in  this  life,  our  real 
relations  either  to  the  past  or  to  the  present, 
much  less  to  the  future.  Earth  has  her  mani- 
fold wonders,  jet  they  are  but  few  when  com- 
pared with  the  infinite  wonders  of  the  heavens. 
Vast  as  our  solar  system  truly  is,  it  may  still  be 
regarded  as  but  a  chandelier  suspended  in  the 
entrance-hall  of  Nature's  great  temple.  When 
we  consider  that  infinite  space  has  neither  cen- 
tre nor  circumference,  and  that  it  is  filled  with 
stars,  and  that  every  star  is  a  world  inhabited 
like  our  own,  and  that  there  are  still  infinite 
numbers  of  stars  whose  light,  though  travelling 
at  the  rate  of  one  hundred  and  eighty-five  thou- 
sand miles  a  second  ever  since  the  dawn  of  crea- 
tion, has  not  yet  reached  the  earth,  we  are  lost,  — 
lost  in  wonder  and  amazement,  lost  in  thought, 
still  wanting  a  thought  broad  enough  and  strong 


NATURE  AND  HER  LESSONS.  39 

enough  to  grasp  the  infinite.  Who  is  there  that 
would  not,  if  he  could,  explore  the  untrodden 
yet  brilliant  domains  of  infinite  space,  the  gar- 
den of  God,  ever  blossoming  with  golden  flow- 
ers, and  thus  acquire  for  himself  divine  wisdom  ? 
If  we  would  become  as  gods,  and  walk  with 
God,  we  must  learn  to  partake  the  food,  and 
drink  the  beverage,  of  the  gods. 

In  physical  science  there  is  much  that  has  a 
direct  influence  on  the  growth  and  vigor  of 
moral  science.  In  fact,  Nature  does  much  more 
for  the  welfare  and  education  of  man  than  he 
does  for  himself.  The  mountains  elevate  his 
thoughts,  and  teach  him  moral  sublimity.  The 
vast  ocean,  apparently  shoreless,  suggests  to  him 
the  idea  of  eternity  and  a  future  life.  The 
earthquake,  the  hurricane,  and  the  lightning 
inspire  him  with  a  belief  in  the  existence  of  a 
supreme  Power,  a  divine  Governor  of  the  uni- 
verse. Thus  impressed  with  a  sense  of  his  own 
weakness  and  dependence,  man  naturally  im- 
plores protection,  and  trusts  in  the  beneficence 
and  in  the  clemency  of  the  great  Invisible. 
Hence  his  faith,  his  hope,  his  aspirations.  In 
this  way  was  laid  the  primitive  foundation  of 
his  creed  and  religious  tendencies.  And  yet 
his  weakest  passion  would  seem  to  be  his 
strongest,  —  a  desire  not  only  to  perpetuate  him- 
self beyond  this  life,  but  to  acquire  superhuman 


40  NATURE  AND   CULTURE. 

power.  It  is  for  this  that  he  struggles,  erects 
altars,  and  solicits  aid  from  visionary  as  well  as 
from  divine  sources. 

Whether  the  perfection  of  mankind  be  the 
end  and  aim  of  Nature,  need  not  be  questioned. 
It  is  evident  that  she  regards  man  as  a  favorite  ; 
and  for  this  reason  solicits  him  to  accept  the 
lessons  of  wisdom  which  are  ever  falling  from 
her  lips.  In  the  plenitude  of  her  love  she  at- 
tempts to  lead  him  upward  into  a  broader  and 
a  holier  sphere.  If  man  was  able  to  trace  his 
descent,  and  ascertain  his  origin,  do  you  think  he 
would  find  it  in  the  ape,  as  Darwin  affirms,  or 
in  the  dust  of  the  earth  ?  Revelation  replies  — 
in  the  dust ;  and  a  sound  philosophy  confirms 
the  fact. 

Nature  never  stultifies  herself.  Nor  does  she 
develop  a  new  species  of  animal  or  plant  from 
an  existing  species  ;  but,  doubtless,  encourages 
"  natural  selection  "  in  the  line  of  each  distinct 
species,  and,  by  so  doing,  promotes  progress  in 
her  grand  scheme  of  attaining  perfection.  Nor 
can  it  be  doubted  that  from  new  conditions 
a  new  species  may  appear.  In  fact,  every  living 
thing  is  born  of  its  appropriate  conditions,  and 
will  continue  to  propagate  its  kind  so  long  as 
its  appropriate  conditions  exist.  When  condi- 
tions change,  results  change.  In  this  way  a 
new  species  of  plant  or  animal  may  be,  and 


NATURE  AND  HER  LESSONS.  41 

perhaps  often  is,  generated.  The  process  is  sim- 
ply one  of  change  in  the  relation  of  the  requi- 
site life-elements,  —  a  process  which  results 
from  the  unceasing  operation  of  a  great  natural 
law.  In  Nature  there  is  nothing  constant  but 
change. 

Life,  in  all  its  varieties,  whether  vegetal  or 
animal,  has  a  rudimental  origin,  traceable,  per- 
haps, to  a  minute  egg,  cell,  or  spore,  call  it  what 
you  will,  from  which  is  evolved,  in  due  time,  a 
perfect  plant  or  animal.  But  if  asked  whence 
is  derived  the  egg,  cell,  or  spore,  we  can  only 
reply,  that  they  have  their  origin  in  certain 
primitive  life-elements,  which  are  brought  into 
contact  in  a  way  so  subtile  as  to  elude  the 
investigations  of  science.  This  life-law,  what- 
ever it  may  be,  acts  in  reference  to  kind,  and 
produces  its  kind.  Nearly  all  forms  of  life  have 
resemblances.  Yet  it  does  not  follow  that  man 
was  developed  from  an  ape,  or  the  bird  from  a 
flying-fish. 

Every  thing  that  lives,  whether  plant  or  ani- 
mal, has  its  leading  characteristics.  Nearly  all 
plants,  as  well  as  animals,  evince  a  degree  of 
intelligence  in  their  choice  of  nutriment,  and  in 
their  methods  of  obtaining  it.  Some  plants, 
like  animals,  shrink  at  the  touch,  while  others 
have  the  power  of  locomotion.  Some  seek  the 
sunlight,  while  others  prefer  the  shade.  Some 


42  NATURE  AND  CULTURE. 

imprison  and  appropriate  insects  as  food,  while 
others  extend  themselves  in  this  or  that  direc- 
tion in  search  of  favorite  companionship.  It  is 
doubtless  true  that  plants,  as  well  as  animals, 
however  low  their  grade,  have  sensation,  per- 
haps consciousness,  and,  if  so,  a  ray  of  reason. 
It  would  seem  that  mind  is  but  an  outgrowth 
of  matter,  and  that  every  living  thing  has  a  de- 
gree of  intelligence.  Indeed,  every  particle  of 
matter,  organic  or  inorganic,  has  motive  power, 
and  is,  therefore,  endowed  with  a  living  princi- 
ple, however  sluggish  or  inert  it  may  appear. 
An  intelligent  vitality  seems  to  pervade  the  en- 
tire material  of  the  universe.  Hence  it  has  been 
said,  with  some  degree  of  plausibility,  that 
"  matter  thinks."  However  this  may  be,  it  is 
certain  that  its  motive  power  acts  in  reference 
to  adapting  means  to  ends,  and  is,  therefore, 
controlled  by  reason,  —  a  reason  that  is  infinitely 
superior  to  human  reason.  In  other  words,  all 
matter  is  the  subject  of  law.  The  one  is  mani- 
festly the  condition  of  the  other.  The  law  can- 
not exist  without  the  matter,  nor  can  the  matter 
exist  without  the  law.  Both  are,  therefore,  co- 
existent, and  doubtless  co-eternal. 

Nature  is  ever  active  in  working  "  wonders  in 
the  heavnes  and  in  the  earth."  Her  domain  in- 
cludes both.  In  the  beam  of  every  star  she 
sends  us  a  messenger,  revealing  the  fact  that  the 


NATURE  AND  HER  LESSONS.  43 

stars  are  constructed  of  the  same  materials  as  the 
earth.  In  like  manner  we  have  assurance  that 
the  same  is  true  of  the  nebulous  masses,  which 
seem  to  float,  like  continents,  in  infinite  space, 
awaiting  the  slow  processes  which  are  destined 
to  mould  them  into  golden  orbs.  And  thus,  from 
the  depths  of  the  infinite,  comes  world  after 
world,  system  after  system,  ever  sweeping  on- 
ward in  the  "  eternal  dances  of  the  sky,"  until 
lost  in  the  infinite.  And  thus  it  is  that  the 
work  of  creation  has  neither  beginning  nor  end- 
ing, but  is  ever  progressing  in  its  subtile  meth- 
ods of  combining,  dissolving,  and  re-combining 
the  entire  matter  of  the  universe.  Every  thing, 
whether  orb  or  atom,  moves  in  a  circle,  because 
there  is  a  divinity  that  stirs  within  it. 

Philosophize  as  we  may,  it  is  certain  that  we 
are  surrounded  by  the  infinite,  and  are  of  the 
infinite.  All  that  is  terrestrial  in  us,  all  indi- 
vidualities, are  evanescent,  passing  from  one 
form  into  another.  Nothing  remains  identical. 
Yet,  in  her  experiments,  Nature  never  fails  of 
success.  In  dissolving  pearls,  she  creates  others 
of  higher  value ;  in  extinguishing  stars,  she 
lights  up  others  of  greater  brilliancy  and  mag- 
nitude. And  yet  nothing  becomes  extinct. 
Elements  never  die.  Every  plant  and  every 
animal  is  but  the  fruitage  of  the  inherent  life 
that  pervades  the  material  world. 


44  NATURE  AND  CULTURE. 

In  some  form  or  other  we  always  have  ex- 
isted, and  always  will  exist.  It  has  been  well 
said  that  man,  in  his  nature,  is  "  half  dust  and 
half  deity."  His  life  does  not  begin  with  his 
birth,  nor  does  it  end  with  his  death.  He  is 
immortal.  And  so  is  every  thing,  whether  ani- 
mate or  inanimate,  immortal.  Even  death  sur- 
vives itself.  Nor  is  there  a  particle  of  matter 
in  the  universe  that  has  not  lived  and  breathed ; 
nor  is  there  a  drop  of  water  in  the  ocean  that 
has  not  slaked  the  thirst  of  some  living  thing. 
Every  star  that  glitters  in  the  fathomless  depths 
of  space  swarms  with  life,  and  every  life 
achieves  its  aim.  In  a  word,  every  thing  is 
infinite,  and  subserves  an  infinite  purpose. 
We  need  neither  go  nor  come  to  reach  heaven. 
It  is  here  ;  it  is  everywhere  ;  not  a  place,  but  a 
state.  It  is  only  the  moral  atmosphere  of  our 
social  and  individual  life  that  requires  purifica- 
tion, —  a  work  that  must  begin  in  the  head  and 
in  the  heart,  in  order  to  be  effective.  When 
this  purification  has  been  achieved,  then  with 
our  earth-life  will  come  moral  elevation ;  and 
with  moral  elevation,  harmony  with  heaven. 
The  God  of  Nature  is  the  God  in  Nature,  who 
not  only  reveals  himself  in  her  lessons,  but 
takes  us  by  the  hand,  and,  with  the  love  and 
patience  of  a  parent,  leads  us  onward  and  up- 
ward— 

"  Along  the  line  of  limitless  desires." 


WOMAN  AND  HER  SPHEEE. 


WOMAN  AND   HER  SPHERE. 

WOMAN,  like  a  flower,  sprang  to  life  in  a 
garden  of  flowers,  —  sprang  from  the  side  of 
her  lord,  and  took  her  place  at  his  side,  as  a 
meet  companion,  to  share  his  earth-life,  his 
joys,  and  his  sorrows. 

The  Greeks  believed  that  the  gods  collected 
every  thing  that  is  beautiful  in  nature,  out  of 
which  they  formed  the  first  woman  ;  and,  having 
crowned  her  brow  with  sunshine,  intrusted 
her  with  the  irresistible  power  of  fascina- 
tion. 

It  is  certainly  not  less  pleasant  than  natural 
to  believe  that  woman  was  made  of  a  more  re- 
fined material  than  man ;  and  it  is  doubtless 
true  that  every  sincere  worshipper  of  the  beauti- 
ful delights  to  regard  the  "  angel  of  his  dreams  " 
not  only  as  an  incarnation  of  all  that  is  lovable, 
but  as  a  divine  spirituality,  —  a  vision  from  a 
brighter  and  holier  sphere.  An  old  writer  re- 
marks, that,  in  order  to  make  an  entirely  beauti- 
ful woman,  it  would  be  necessary  to  take  the 
head  from  Greece,  the  bust  from  Austria,  the 
feet  from  Hindostan,  the  shoulders  from  Italy, 

47 


48  NATURE  AND   CULTURE. 

the  walk  from  Spain,  and  the  complexion  from 
England.  At  that  rate  she  would  be  a  mosaic 
in  her  composition ;  and  the  man  who  married 
her  might  well  be  said  to  have  "  taken  up  a  col- 
lection." 

However  mystical  may  be  the  origin  of 
woman,  it  is  certain  that  we  should  look  to  the 
moral  beauty  of  her  life,  rather  than  to  her  per- 
sonal charms,  in  estimating  the  true  value  of 
her  character.  In  her  nature,  woman  is  a  loyal- 
ist, —  loyal  to  man,  and  loyal  to  God.  In  all  ages 
of  the  world,  in  all  countries,  and  under  all  cir- 
cumstances, she  has  ever  been  distinguished  for 
her  patience,  her  fortitude,  and  her  forbearance, 
as  well  as  for  those  still  higher  and  diviner 
attributes,  her  love  and  her  devotion. 

Endowed  with  charms  which  give  her  the 
power  of  conquest,  woman  ever  delights  in 
making  conquests  ;  and,  though  she  may  some- 
times "  stoop  to  conquer,"  she  never  fails  to 
elevate  the  conquered.  With  the  smile  of  love 
resting  on  her  brow,  she  aims  to  fulfil  her  mission 
by  scattering  flowers  along  the  pathway  of  life, 
and  inspiring  the  sterner  sex  with  reverence  for 
her  virtues  and  for  the  angelhood  of  her  na- 
ture. 

The  true  woman  exhibits  a  true  womanhood 
in  all  she  does,  in  all  she  says,  —  in  her  heart-life 
and  in  her  world-life.  Her  love  once  bestowed 


WOMAN  AND  HER  SPHERE.  49 

on  him  who  is  worthy  of  it,  increases  with  her 
years,  and  becomes  as  enduring  as  her  life,  — 

"  In  death,  a  deathless  flame." 

Not  only  in  the  sincerity  of  her  love,  but  in  all 
her  sympathies,  in  her  quick  sense  of  duty,  and 
in  her  devotion  to  all  that  is  good,  right,  and 
just,  she  discloses,  without  being  conscious  of  it, 
the  divinity  of  her  character. 

It  is  in  sacred  history  that  we  find  the  earliest 
record  of  woman's  virtues,  acquirements,  and 
achievements.  It  is  there  that  we  read  of 
women,  who  were  not  only  distinguished  for 
their  exalted  piety  and  exemplary  habits  of 
life,  but  who  often  excelled  even  the  great  men 
of  renown  in  sagacity  of  purpose,  and  in  the 
exercise  of  sceptred  power.  It  is  in  sacred  his- 
tory that  we  have  the  earliest  account  of  the 
social  and  domestic  relations  of  the  human 
family,  the  most  prominent  of  which  is  the 
institution  of  marriage. 

The  first  marriage  of  which  we  have  any  ac- 
count took  place  in  a  garden,  without  the  usual 
preliminaries  and  ceremonies  which  have  marked 
its  solemnization  in  subsequent  periods  of  the 
world's  history ;  yet  we  must  believe  that  it 
was  the  most  august  and  sublime  wedding  that 
ever  occurred.  The  witnesses  of  the  ceremony 
were  none  other  than  the  angels  of  God.  Nature 


60  NATURE  AXD  CULTURE. 

presented  her  choicest  flowers,  and  the  birds  of 
Paradise  sang  the  bridal  hymn ;  while  earth  and 
sky  rejoiced  in  the  consummation  of  the  "  first 
match  made  in  heaven." 

It  may  be  presumed,  perhaps,  that  all  matches 
are  made  in  heaven ;  yet,  somehow  or  other,  sad 
mistakes  occur  when  least  expected.  Even  our 
first  parents,  though  placed  in  a  garden  of  in- 
nocence, encountered  a  serpent  in  their  pathway. 
It  need  not  seem  very  strange,  therefore,  that  the 
"  course  of  true  love  never  did  run  smooth." 
Yet  there  are  but  few  who  would  not  concur 
with  Tennyson  in  thinking,  — 

"  Tis  better  to  have  loved  and  lost, 
Than  never  to  have  loved  at  all." 

In  affairs  of  the  heart  there  is  no  such  thing 
as  accounting  for  the  freaks  of  fancy,  or  the 
choice  of  dissimilar  tastes.  Singular  as  it  may 
be,  most  people  admire  contrasts.  In  other 
words,  like  prefers  unlike  ;  the  tall  prefer  the 
short ;  the  beautiful  the  unbeautiful ;  and  the 
perverse  the  reverse.  In  this  way  Nature  makes 
up  her  counterparts  with  a  view  to  assimilate 
her  materials,  and  bring  harmony  out  of  dis- 
cord. It  is  from  accords  and  discords  that  we 
judge  of  music,  and  determine  its  degree  of 
excellence.  In  wedded  life,  even  discords  have 
their  uses ;  since  a  family  jar,  now  and  then,  is 


WOMAN  AND  HER  SPHERE.  51 

often  attended  with  the  happiest  results,  by 
bringing  into  timely  exercise  a  higher  degree  of 
mutual  forbearance,  and  inspiring  the  heart  with 
a  purer,  sincerer,  and  diviner  appreciation  of  the 
"  silken  tie." 

There  is  no  topic,  perhaps,  of  deeper  interest 
to  a  woman  than  that  of  wedlock.  It  is  an 
event,  when  it  does  occur,  which  brightens  or 
blasts  forever  her  fondest  hopes  and  her  purest 
affections.  The  matrimonial  question  is,  there- 
fore, the  great  question  of  a  woman's  life.  In 
deciding  it,  she  takes  a  risk  which  determines 
the  future  of  her  heart-life.  When  the  motive 
is  stamped  with  the  imperial  seal  of  Heaven,  it 
is  certain  the  heart  will  recognize  it  as  genuine, 
and  trust  in  it.  The  language  of  love  speaks 
for  itself,  sometimes  in  mysteries,  sometimes  in 
revelations.  It  is  a  telegraphic  language,  which 
every  woman  understands,  though  written  in 
hieroglyphics.  Hence  the  preliminaries  to  wed- 
lock, usually  called  courtships,  are  as  various  in 
their  methods  as  the  whims  of  the  parties.  In 
many  parts  of  the  world  these  methods  are  as 
amusing  as  they  are  singular. 

In  royal  families  matrimonial  alliances  are 
controlled  by  state  policy,  and  the  negotiations 
conducted  through  the  agency  of  ministerial 
confidants.  In  some  Oriental  countries,  par- 
ents contract  their  sons  and  daughters  in  niar- 


52  NATURE  AND  CULTURE. 

riage  while  yet  in  their  infancy,  nor  allow 
the  parties  an  interview  until  of  marriageable 
age,  when  the  wedding  ceremonies  are  per- 
formed, and  the  happy,  pair  unveiled  to  behold 
each  other  for  the  first  time.  At  such  a  mo- 
ment "  a  penny  for  their  thoughts  "  would  be 
cheap  enough.  The  philosophy  of  this  absurd 
custom  seems  to  be  based  on  the  classical  idea 
that  "  love  is  blind."  This  may  be  true  ;  yet 
blind  though  it  be,  the  heart  will  always  have 
its  preference,  and  contrive  some  way  or  other 
to  express  it. 

In  some  of  the  Molucca  Islands,  when  a 
young  man  is  too  bashful  to  speak  his  love,  he 
seizes  the  first  opportunity  that  offers  of  sitting 
near  the  object  of  his  affection,  and  tying  his 
garments  to  hers.  If  she  allows  him  to  finish 
the  knot,  and  neither  cuts  nor  loosens  it,  she 
truly  gives  her  consent  to  the  marriage.  If  she 
merely  loosens  it,  he  is  at  liberty  to  try  his  luck 
again  at  a  more  propitious  moment.  But,  if  she 
cuts  the  knot,  there  is  an  end  of  hope. 

In  Lapland  it  is  death  to  marry  a  girl  without 
the  consent  of  her  friends.  When  a  young 
man  proposes  marriage,  the  friends  of  both  par- 
ties meet  to  witness  a  race  between  them.  The 
girl  is  allowed,  at  starting,  the  advantage  of  a 
third  part  of  the  race  ;  if  her  lover  does  not 
overtake  her,  it  is  a  penal  offence  for  him  ever 


WOMAN  AND  HER  SPHERE.  53 

to  renew  his  offers  of  marriage.  If  the  damsel 
favors  his  suit,  she  may  run  fast  at  first,  to  try 
his  affection ;  but  she  will  be  sure  to  linger 
before  she  comes  to  the  end  of  the  race.  In  this 
way  all  marriages  are  made  in  accordance  with 
inclination ;  and  this  is  the  probable  reason  of 
so  much  domestic  contentment  in  that  country. 

In  ancient  times  marriageable  women  were 
the  subjects  of  bargain  and  sale,  and  were  more 
generally  obtained  by  purchase  than  courtship. 
The  prices  paid  in  some  instances  seem  incredi- 
ble, if  not  extortionate.  Of  course,  "  pearls  of 
great  price  "  were  not  to  be  had  for  the  mere 
asking.  Jacob  purchased  his  wife,  Rachel,  at  a 
cost  of  fourteen  years'  hard  labor. 

The  Babylonians,  who  were  a  practical  peo- 
ple, gathered  their  marriageable  daughters,  once 
a  year,  from  every  district  of  their  country,  and 
sold  them  at  auction  to  bachelors,  who  pur- 
chased them  for  wiVes,  while  the  magistrates 
presided  at  the  sales.  The  sums  of  money  thus 
received  for  the  beautiful  girls,  were  appropri- 
ated as  doweries  for  the  benefit  of  the  less  beau- 
tiful. Of  course  rich  bachelors  paid  liberal 
prices  for  their  choice ;  while  poor  bachelors,  in 
accepting  the  less  beautiful,  generally  obtained 
the  best  wives,  with  the  addition  of  a  handsome 
sum  of  money.  In  this  way  all  parties  were 
accommodated  who  aspired  to  matrimonial  fe 
licity. 


54  NATURE  AND  CULTURE. 

But  in  these  modern  times,  most  of  our  young 
men,  instead  of  purchasing  their  wives,  prefer 
to  sell  themselves  at  the  highest  price  the  mar- 
ket affords.  Fortune-hunting  is,  therefore,  re- 
garded as  legitimate.  In  the  mind  of  a  fast 
young  man,  wealth  has  a  magical  influence, 
which  is  sure  to  invest  the  possessor,  if  a  mar- 
riageable young  lady,  however  unattractive, 
with  irresistible  charms.  If  his  preliminary  in- 
quiry, Is  she  rich  ?  be  answered  in  the  affirma- 
tive, the  siege  commences  at  once.  Art  is  so 
practised  as  to  conceal  art,  and  create,  if  possi- 
ble, a  favorable  impression.  An  introduction  is 
sought  and  obtained.  Interview  follows  inter- 
view in  quick  succession.  The  declaration  is 
made ;  the  diamond  ring  presented,  and  graciously 
accepted ;  consent  obtained,  and  the  happy  day 
set.  Rumor  reports  an  eligible  match  in  high 
life,  and  the  fashionable  world  is  on  tiptoe  with 
expectation. 

But,  instead  of  its  being  an  "  affair  of  the 
heart,"  it  is  really  a  very  different  affair,  —  noth- 
ing but  a  hasty  transaction  in  fancy  stocks.  And 
if  the  officiating  clergyman  were  to  employ  an 
appropriate  formula  of  words  in  celebrating  the 
nuptials,  he  would  address  the  parties  thus, — 

"  Romeo,  wilt  thou  have  this  delicate  consti- 
tution, this  bundle  of  silks  and  satins,  this  crock 
of  gold,  for  thy  wedded  wife  ?  "  —  "  I  will." 


WOMAN  AND  HER  SPHERE.  55 

"  Juliet,  wilt  thou  have  this  false  pretence,  this 
profligate  in  broadcloth,  this  unpaid  tailor's  bill, 
for  thy  wedded  husband?"  —  "  I  will." 

The  happy  pair  are  then  pronounced  man  and 
wife.  And  what  is  the  result  ?  A  brief  career 
of  dissipation,  a  splendid  misery,  a  reduction  to 
poverty,  domestic  dissension,  separation,  and 
finally  a  divorce.  But  how  different  is  the  re- 
sult, when  an  honest  man,  actuated  by  pure 
motives,  marries  a  sincere  woman,  whose  only 
wealth  consists  in  her  love  and  in  her  practical 
good  sense. 

It  is  man  who  degrades  woman  ;  not  woman 
who  degrades  man.  Asiatic  monarchs  have 
ever  regarded  woman,  not  as  a  companion,  but 
as  a  toy,  a  picture,  a  luxury  of  the  palace  ; 
while  men  of  common  rank  throughout  Asia, 
and  in  many  parts  of  Europe,  treat  her  as  a 
slave,  a  drudge,  a  "  hewer  of  wood  and  a  drawer 
of  water,"  and  make  it  her  duty  to  wait,  instead 
of  being  waited  on  ;  to  attend,  instead  of  being 
attended.  Out  of  this  sordid  idea  of  woman's 
destiny  has  grown,  in  all  probability,  the  cus- 
tom of  regarding  her  as  property.  Influenced 
by  this  idea,  there  are  still  some  persons  to  be 
found  among  the  lower  classes,  even  in  our  own 
country,  who  do  not  hesitate  to  sell,  buy,  or 
exchange  their  wives  for  a  material  considera- 
tion. Our  American  forefathers,  in  the  early 


56  NATURE  AND  CULTURE. 

settlement  of  Jamestown,  purchased  their  wives 
from  England,  and  paid  in  tobacco,  at  the  rate 
of  one  hundred  and  fifty  pounds  each,  and 
thought  it  a  fair  transaction.  Perhaps  this  is 
the  reason  why  ladies  are  so  generally  disgusted 
with  the  use  of  the  "  Virginia  weed." 

But  the  doctrine  that  woman  was  created  the 
inferior  of  man,  though  venerable  for  its  anti- 
quity, is  not  less  fallacious  than  venerable.  It  is 
simply  an  assertion  which  does  not  appear  to  be 
sustained  by  historical  facts.  It  is  true  that 
woman  is  called  in  Scripture  the  "  weaker  ves- 
sel :  "  weaker  in  physical  strength  she  may  be, 
but  it  does  not  follow  that  she  is  weaker  in 
mind,  wit,  judgment,  shrewdness,  tact,  or  moral 
power. 

The  sterner  sex  need  not  flatter  themselves, 
therefore,  that  superiority  of  muscle  necessarily 
implies  superiority  of  mind.  History  sufficiently 
discloses  the  fact  that  woman  has  often  proved 
herself  not  only  a  match,  but  an  over-match  for 
man,  in  wielding  the  sceptre,  the  sword,  and 
the  pen,  to  say  nothing  of  the  tongue.  Illus- 
trations of  this  great  fact,  like  coruscations  of 
light,  sparkle  along  the  darkened  track  of  the 
ages,  and  abound  in  the  living  present. 

But,  in  looking  into  the  broad  expanse  of  the 
historical  past,  we  cannot  attempt  to  do  more 
than  glance  here  and  there  at  a  particular  star, 


WOMAN  AND  HER  SPHERE.  57 

whose  imdiminished  lustre  has  given  it  a  name 
and  a  fame,  not  only  glorious,  but  immortal.  As 
in  all  ages  there  have  been  representative  men, 
so  in  all  ages  there  have  been  representative 
women,  who  crowned  the  age  in  which  they 
lived  with  honor,  and  gave  tone  to  its  sentiment 
and  character. 

In  the  career  of  Semiramis,  who  lived  about 
1965  years  before  the  Christian  era,  we  have  a 
crystallization  of  those  subtile  attributes  of  female 
character,  which  are  not  less  remarkable  for 
their  diversity  than  extensive  in  their  power 
and  influence.  It  will  be  remembered  that  she 
was  the  reputed  child  of  a  goddess,  a  foundling 
exposed  in  a  desert,  fed  for  a  year  by  doves, 
discovered  by  a  shepherd,  and  adopted  by  him 
as  his  own  daughter.  When  grown  to  woman- 
hood, she  married  the  governor  of  Nineveh,  and 
assisted  him  in  the  siege  and  conquest  of  Bac- 
tria.  The  wisdom  and  tact  which  she  mani- 
fested in  this  enterprise,  and  especially  her  per- 
sonal beauty,  attracted  the  attention  of  the 
king  of  Assyria,  who  mysteriously  relieved  her 
of  her  husband,  obtained  her  hand  in  wedlock, 
resigned  to  her  his  crown,  and  declared  her 
queen  and  sole  empress  of  Assyria.  The  aspi- 
rations of  Semiramis  became  at  once  unbounded ; 
and,  fearing  her  royal  consort  might  repent  the 
hasty  step  he  had  taken,  she  abruptly  extin- 


58  NATURE  AND  CULTURE. 

guished  his  life,  and  soon  succeeded  in  distin- 
guishing her  own.  She  levelled  mountains, 
filled  up  valleys,  built  aqueducts,  commanded 
armies,  conquered  neighboring  nations,  pene- 
trated into  Arabia  and  Ethiopia,  amassed  vast 
treasures,  founded  many  cities;  and,  wherever 
she  appeared,  spread  terror  and  consternation. 
Under  her  auspices,  and  by  means  of  her  wealth, 
Babylon,  the  capital  of  her  empire,  became  the 
most  renowned  and  magnificent  city  in  the 
world.  Her  might  was  invincible  ;  her  right 
she  regarded  as  co-extensive  with  her  power. 
Her  prompt  action  was  the  secret  of  her  success. 
When  she  was  informed,  on  one  occasion,  that 
Babylon  had  revolted,  she  left  her  toilette  half- 
made,  put  herself  at  the  head  of  an  armed  force, 
and  instantly  quelled  the  revolt.  She  was  a 
woman  of  strong  passions  and  of  strong  mind, 
and,  what  is  now  very  uncommon,  of  strong 
nerves.  And  yet  her  peerless  beauty  and  the 
fascination  of  her  manners  appear  to  have  been 
as  irresistible  as  the  sway  of  her  sceptre.  The 
fatality  of  her  personal  charms,  her  inordinate 
love  of  power,  and  the  evils  which  arise  from 
the  indulgence  of  vain  aspirations,  indicate  the 
lessons  which  are  taught  by  her  career.  In  the 
twenty-fifth  year  of  her  reign,  her  life  was  sud- 
denly terminated  by  the  violent  hand  of  her 
own  son.  After  death  she  was  transformed, 


WOMAN  AND  HER  SPHERE.  59 

as  it  was  believed,  into  a  dove,  under  the  symbol 
of  which  she  received  divine  honors  throughout 
Assyria. 

It  would  seem  that  literary  women  were  not 
less  unknown  in  ancient  times  than  at  the  pres- 
ent day.  Sappho  took  her  place  in  the  galaxy 
of  literary  fame  six  hundred  years  before  Christ. 
So  sublime,  and  yet  so  sweet,  were  her  lyric 
strains,  that  the  Greeks  pronounced  her  the 
tenth  Muse.  Longinus  cites  from  her  writings 
specimens  of  the  sublime,  and  extols  her  genius 
as  unrivalled.  Beneficent  as  talented,  she  insti- 
tuted an  academy  of  music  for  young  maidens  ; 
wrote  nine  books  of  lyric  verse,  and  many  other 
compositions  of  great  merit.  But  of  all  her 
writings,  however,  only  one  or  two  of  her  odes 
have  survived.  Her  fate  was  an  unhappy  one. 
She  became  violently  enamoured  of  a  young 
man  of  Mitylene,  who  was  so  ungallant  as  not 
to  reciprocate  her  attachment ;  and,  being  re- 
duced to  a  state  of  hopeless  despair,  she  pre- 
cipitated herself  into  the  sea  from  the  steep 
cliff  of  Leucate,  ever  since  called  the  "  Lover's 
Leap." 

In  this  connection  we  ought  not  to  omit  the 
name  of  Aspasia,  who,  at  a  period  two  centu- 
ries later  than  Sappho,  emerged  like  a  star  in 
a  darkened  sky,  and  charmed  the  age  in 
which  she  lived  with  the  fascinations  of  her 


60  NATURE  AND  CULTURE. 

rhetoric.  She  was  not  less  stately  and  queen- 
like  in  her  person,  than  accomplished  in  her 
manners.  It  is  said  of  her,  that  she  possessed 
rhetorical  powers  which  were  unequalled  by  the 
public  orators  of  her  time.  She  was  as  learned 
as  eloquent.  Plato  says  she  was  the  instructress 
of  Socrates.  She  also  instructed  Pericles  in  the 
arts  of  oratory,  and  afterwards  married  him. 
He  was  largely  indebted  to  her  for  his  finish  of 
education,  and  elegance  of  manners,  for  which 
he  was  so  much  distinguished. 

So  charming  were  Aspasia's  conversational 
powers,  that  the  Athenians  sought  every  oppor- 
tunity to  introduce  their  wives  into  her  pres- 
ence, that  they  might  learn  from  her  the  art  of 
employing  an  elegant  diction.  On  one  occasion, 
when  the  Athenian  army  had  been  disheart- 
ened, she  appeared  in  the  public  assembly  of 
the  people,  and  pronounced  an  oration  which  so 
thrilled  their  breasts  as  to  inspire  new  hopes 
and  induce  them  to  rally  and  redeem  their 
cause. 

Among  female  sovereigns,  but  few  have 
evinced  more  tact  or  talent  in  an  emergency 
than  Zenobia,  queen  of  Palmyra.  She  was  a 
native  of  Syria,  a  descendant  of  Ptolemy ;  mar- 
ried Odenatus,  a  Saracen,  and,  after  his  death, 
succeeded  to  the  throne,  about  the  year  of  our 
Lord  267.  She  had  been  highly  educated ; 


WOMAN  AND  HER  SPHERE.  61 

wrote  and  spoke  many  different  languages ;  had 
studied  the  beauties  of  Homer  and  Plato  under 
the  tuition  of  Longinus ;  and  was  not  less  re- 
nowned for  her  beauty,  melody  of  voice,  and 
elegance  of  manners,  than  for  her  heroic  deeds. 
In  the  five  years  of  her  reign,  she  conducted 
many  warlike  expeditions,  extended  her  empire, 
compelling  Cappadocia,  Bithynia,  and  Egypt  to 
recognize  her  authority,  and  acknowledge  her 
"  Queen  of  the  East,"  —  a  favorite  title  which 
she  had  assumed.  Her  power  had  now  become 
so  extended  as  to  alarm  the  Roman  Govern- 
ment for  their  own  safety,  who  sent  Aurelian 
•with  a  formidable  army  to  subjugate  and  reduce 
her  empire  to  a  province.  Zenobia,  after  being 
defeated  in  two  severe  battles,  retired  with  her 
forces  to  Palmyra,  her  capital ;  fortified  it,  and 
resolved  never  to  surrender.  Aurelian  in-vested 
the  city  with  his  entire  army,  and,  in  the  course 
of  the  siege,  was  severely  wounded  by  an  arrow ; 
and  being  thus  disabled,  the  progress  of  the 
siege  was  so  far  retarded  as  to  give  the  citizens 
of  Rome  occasion  to  utter  against  him  bitter 
invectives,  and  to  question  the  character  of  the 
"  arrow  "  that  had  pierced  him.  In  other  words, 
they  accused  him  of  complicity.  In  his  letter 
of  self-justification  to  the  Senate,  he  says, 
"  The  Roman  people  speak  with  contempt 
of  the  war  I  am  waging  against  a  woman. 


62  NATURE  AND  CULTURE. 

They  are  ignorant  of  the  character  and  of  the 
power  of  Zenobia.  It  is  impossible  to  enumer- 
ate her  warlike  preparations  of  stones  and 
arrows,  and  every  species  of  missile  weapons. 
The  walls  of  the  city  are  strongly  guarded,  and 
artificial  fires  are  thrown  from  her  military  en- 
gines. The  fear  of  punishment  has  armed  her 
with  desperate  courage.  Still  I  trust  in  the 
gods  for  a  favorable  result." 

In  this  letter  the  stern  and  proud  Roman  gen- 
eral frankly  admits  the  might  of  woman.  Feeling 
humiliated,  and  almost  despairing  of  success,  he 
now  attempted  to  procure  a  surrender  of  the 
city  by  negotiation,  and  offered  the  most  liberal 
advantages  to  the  queen.  In  her  reply,  she  said 
to  him,  "  It  is  not  by  negotiation,  but  by  arms, 
that  the  submission  you  require  of  me  can  be 
obtained."  This  laconic  reply  was  certainly 
worthy  of  a  heroine  and  of  a  queen.  Yet,  after 
a  protracted  and  desperate  defence,  and  finding 
that  her  allies,  instead  of  coming  to  her  relief 
as  they  promised,  had  accepted  bribes  from  the 
enemy  to  remain  at  a  distance,  she  saw  that  all 
was  lost ;  and,  mounting  her  fleetest  dromedary, 
sought  to  escape  into  Persia  ;  but  was  overtaken 
on  the  banks  of  the  Euphrates  and  captured. 
When  brought  into  the  presence  of  her  con- 
queror, and  asked  how  she  dared  resist  the 
power  of  Rome,  she  replied,  "  Because  I  recog- 
nize Aurelian  alone  as  my  sovereign." 


WOMAN  AND  HER  SPHERE.  63 

Zenobia  was  sent  to  Rome  to  grace  the  tri- 
umph of  Aurelian.  She  entered  the  city  on 
foot,  preceded  by  her  own  chariot,  with  which 
she  had  designed,  in  the  event  of  having  won 
the  victory,  to  make  her  grand  entry  into  Rome 
as  the  triumphant  "  Queen  of  the  East."  But 
the  fortunes  of  war  subverted  her  ambitious 
scheme,  and  subjected  her  to  the  mortification 
of  gracing  a  Roman  triumph.  Yet  for  this  in- 
dignity she  felt  that  she  was  somewhat  compen- 
sated in  knowing  that  her  appearance  in  Rome 
would  create  a  sensation.  In  the  grand  proces- 
sion she  followed  her  chariot,  so  laden  with 
jewels  and  chains  of  gold  as  to  require  the 
support  of  a  slave  to  prevent  her  from  fainting 
beneath  the  weight. 

After  enjoying  the  satisfaction  of  a  triumph, 
Aurelian  treated  his  beautiful  captive  with  kind 
consideration,  and  provided  for  her  a  delightful 
residence  on  the  banks  of  the  Tiber,  where  she 
passed  the  remainder  of  her  days,  honored  by 
all  as  a  matron  of  rare  virtue  and  accomplish- 
ments. She  lived  to  educate  her  daughters,  and 
to  see  them  contract  noble  alliances.  Her  de- 
scendants were  ranked  among  the  first  citizens 
of  Rome,  and  did  not  become  extinct  until  after 
the  fifth  century. 

Near  the  commencement  of  the  fifteenth  cen- 
tury, there  appeared  in  France  a  brilliant 


64  NATURE  AND  CULTURE. 

meteor,  —  a  youthful  maiden,  whose  develop- 
ment of  character  was  as  mystical  as  it  Avas 
heroic.  Joan  of  Arc  was  born  of  obscure 
parents,  in  an  obscure  village  on  the  borders  of 
Lorraine,  and  was  bred  in  a  school  of  sim- 
plicity. She  possessed  beauty,  united  with  an 
amiable  temper  and  generous  sympathies.  In 
her  religious  faith  she  was  sincere,  even  angelic. 
Her  love  of  country  was  ardent  and  irrepressi- 
ble. Finding  her  countrymen  distracted  by  a 
bitter  partisan  feeling,  she  identified  herself 
with  the  patriots,  and  desired  to  secure  the  cor- 
onation of  Prince  Charles,  as  the  only  means,  in 
her  belief,  of  restoring  the  authority  of  the 
legitimate  government.  The  reigning  king  had 
become  hopelessly  demented,  and  anarchy  pre- 
vailed in  almost  every  part  of  his  dominions. 

The  rival  houses  of  Orleans  and  Burgundy 
were  contending  for  the  supremacy,  and  had 
entered  upon  a  career  of  murder  and  massacre, 
instead  of  adopting  a  regular  system  of  warfare. 
Both  parties  invoked  the  aid  of  the  English, 
and  an  army  was  accordingly  sent  from  Eng- 
land; but,  instead  of  relieving  either  of  the 
contending  parties,  their  interference  only  im- 
posed still  weightier  calamities  on  the  country. 
At  this  crisis  a  prophecy  became  .current  among 
the  people,  that  a  virgin  would  appear,  and  rid 
France  of  her  enemies.  This  prophecy  reached 


WOMAN  AND  HER  SPHERE.  65 

the  ear  of  Joan  of  Arc,  and  inspired  her  with 
the  belief  that  she  was  the  chosen  one  of  Heaven 
to  accomplish  the  work. 

In  confirmation  of  this  belief,  she  heard  mys- 
terious voices  which  came  to  her  in  her  dreams, 
and  which  she  regarded  as  divine  communica- 
tions, directing  her  to  enter  upon  her  great 
mission.  On  conferring  with  her  parents  in 
relation  to  the  matter,  they  advised  her  to  aban- 
don her  mad  scheme,  and  desired  her  to  marry 
and  remain  with  them  in  her  native  village ; 
but  she  declined,  insisting  that  the  current  pre- 
diction —  "  France  shall  be  saved  by  a  virgin  "  — 
alluded  to  her.  The  English  army  had  already 
besieged  Orleans,  and  all  hope  of  saving  the 
city  seemed  lost.  Her  friends,  regarding  her  as 
endowed  with  supernatural  powers,  provided 
her  with  a  war-horse  and  a  military  costume, 
and  sent  her  with  an  escort  to  the  court  of 
Prince  Charles,  whom  she  had  never  seen,  but 
whose  cause  she  had  espoused. 

He  received  her  with  distrust,  though  he  de- 
sired her  proffered  assistance.  In  order  to  avoid 
being  charged  with  having  faith  in  sorcery,  he 
handed  her  over  to  a  commission  of  ecclesias- 
tics, to  ascertain  whether  she  was  inspired  of 
Heaven,  or  instigated  by  an  evil  spirit.  Among 
other  tests,  the  ecclesiastics  desired  her  to  per- 
form miracles.  She  replied,  "  Bring  me  to  Or- 


66  NATURE  AND   CULTURE. 

leans  and  you  shall  witness  a  miracle ;  the 
siege  shall  be  raised,  and  Prince  Charles  shall 
be  crowned  king  at  Rheims."  They  approved 
her  project,  and  she  received  the  rank  of  a  mil- 
itary commander. 

She  then  demanded  a  mysterious  sword  which 
she  averred  had  been  concealed  by  a  hero  of 
the  olden  time  within  the  walls  of  an  ancient 
church.  On  search  being  made,  the  sword  was 
found  and  delivered  to  her.  In  a  short  time, 
with  this  mysterious  sword  in  hand,  she  appeared 
at  the  head  of  an  enthusiastic  army,  within 
sight  of  the  besieged  city  of  Orleans.  The 
English  army  was  astonished  at  the  novel  appa- 
rition. She  advanced,  and  demanded  a  surrender 
of  the  city,  but  was  indignantly  refused;  yet 
the  citizens  of  Orleans  were  elate  with  joy  at 
the  prospect  of  relief.  Joan  boldly  assaulted 
the  outposts,  and  carried  them.  The  besieged 
citizens,  who  had  escaped  outside  the  walls,  now 
rallied  under  her  banner,  and  swelled  the  ranks 
of  her  army.  Fort  after  fort  was  captured. 
The  English  fought  with  desperation.  Joan, 
cheering  on  her  brave  forces,  and  calling  on 
them  to  follow,  seized  a  scaling-ladder,  and 
ascended  the  enemy's  breastworks,  when  she 
was  pierced  with  an  arrow  in  the  shoulder,  and 
fell  into  the  fosse.  Her  undaunted  followers 
rescued  her;  when  she,  seeing  her  banner  in 


WOMAN  AND  HER  SPHERE.  67 

danger,  though  faint  and  bleeding,  rushed  for- 
ward, seized  and  bore  it  off  in  triumph.  The 
English  army,  amazed  at  this,  and  believing  her 
more  than  human,  became  panic-stricken,  and 
retreated  in  confusion.  In  their  flight  they  lost 
their  commander  and  many  of  their  bravest 
men.  Thus,  in  one  week  after  her  arrival  at 
Orleans,  she  compelled  the  English  to  abandon 
the  siege.  In  truth,  she  had  performed  a  mira- 
cle, as  her  countrymen  believed,  and  as  she  had 
promised  the  ecclesiastics  she  would  do.  For 
this  brilliant  achievement  she  acquired  the  title, 
"  Maid  of  Orleans." 

In  addition  to  this,  she  subsequently  fought 
several  severe  battles  with  the  English,  and 
defeated  them.  Even  the  sight  of  her  approach- 
ing banner  often  terrified  the  enemy  into  a  sur- 
render. In  less  than  three  .  months  from  the 
commencement  of  her  career,  she  saw  Prince 
Charles  crowned  king  at  Rheims.  In  gratitude 
for  her  pre-eminent  and  timely  services  in  his 
cause,  Charles  issued  his  royal  edict  ennobling 
her  and  her  family.  Not  long  after  this,  the 
opposing  faction  of  King  Charles  captured  the 
Maid  of  Orleans,  as  she  was  now  called,  and 
imprisoned  her  in  a  strong  fortress.  She  at- 
tempted to  escape  by  leaping  the  walls,  but  was 
secured,  and  transferred  to  the  custody  of  the 
English.  The  University  of  Paris,  at  the  instance 


68  NATURE  AND  CULTURE. 

of  dominant  ecclesiastics,  demanded  her  trial 
on  the  charge  of  sorcery  and  the  assumption  of 
divine  powers.  Her  judges,  intolerant  as  the 
priests,  condemned  her  to  be  burnt  at  the  stake. 
Her  friends  were  overawed,  and  failed  to  inter- 
fere in  her  behalf.  The  only  condition  in  her 
sentence  was  recantation,  and  the  acknowledg- 
ment of  the  supremacy  of  the  Church.  In  view 
of  so  terrific  a  death,  she  recanted ;  but  hear- 
ing the  mysterious  voices  of  her  former  dreams 
upbraid  her,  she  re-asserted  her  faith  in  her 
divine  mission ;  was  again  seized  at  the  instance 
of  the  priesthood,  and  the  cruel  sentence  of 
death  at  the  stake  carried  into  execution. 

Never  did  a  sadder  fate  overtake  an  innocent, 
patriotic,  and  noble-hearted  woman.  Her  only 
crime  was  her  love  for  her  country,  and  her 
contempt  for  ecclesiastical  assumption.  Her 
purity  of  life  was  never  questioned.  It  was 
said  of  her  that  she  never  allowed  a  profane 
word  to  be  uttered  in  her  presence.  Her 
religion  was  a  religion  of  the  heart,  too  exalted 
for  the  times  in  which  she  lived.  So  sincere 
was  the  belief  of  the  populace  in  her  sanctity, 
that  many  persons  made  pilgrimages  from  every 
part  of  the  empire  to  touch  her  garments ; 
believing,  that,  if  they  could  be  allowed  the 
privilege,  they  would  be  specially  blessed,  both 
in  this  life  and  in  the  life  to  come. 


WOMAN  AND  HER  SPHERE.  69 

There  was  no  woman  of  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury, perhaps,  who  was  more  conspicuous  or 
more  talented  than  Elizabeth,  queen  of  Eng- 
land. Highly  educated  in  the  ancient  and 
modern  languages,  as  well  as  in  philosophy,  she 
embraced  at  an  early  age  the  Protestant  faith, 
and  in  consequence  of  the  religious  jealousies 
of  the  times,  encountered  great  opposition  in 
her  advent  to  the  throne  ;  and,  while  yet  in  her 
girlhood,  suffered  a  long  imprisonment  in  the 
Tower  by  order  of  her  sister  Mary,  who  was  at 
that  time  the  reigning  queen.  But  events 
which  transpired  in  1558  resulted  in  the  eleva- 
tion of  Elizabeth  to  the  throne,  at  the  age  of 
twenty-five.  So  fearful  were  the  Catholics  of 
her  influence  in  matters  of  faith  that  they  sent 
to  her  a  distinguished  ecclesiastic,  who  de- 
manded from  her  a  declaration  of  her  religious 
creed.  To  this  intrusive  demand  she,  being  an 
adept  at  rhyming,  replied  impromptu,  — 

"  Christ  was  the  word  that  spake  it ; 
He  took  the  bread  and  brake  it ; 
And  what  that  word  did  make  it, 
That  I  believe,  and  take  it." 

So  frank  and  faultless  was  this  avowal  that  it 
confounded  the  artful  priest,  who,  feeling  re- 
buked, went  away  as  wise  as  he  came,  if  not  a 
little  wiser. 


70  NATURE  AND  CULTURE. 

In  her  personal  appearance  Elizabeth  was 
stately  and  majestic,  but  by  no  means  remarka- 
ble for  her  beauty,  or  amiableness  of  temper. 
Her  good  judgment  and  discrimination  enabled 
her  to  call  to  her  aid  wise  men  for  minis- 
ters and  counsellors.  She  patronized  talent 
and  intellect.  It  was  during  her  reign  that 
Spenser,  Shakspeare,  Raleigh,  Bacon,  and 
other  eminent  characters,  nourished,  giving  to 
her  times  and  to  literature  the  distinction  of 
the  "  Elizabethan  age."  The  leading  events  of 
her  reign  amply  attest  her  capacity  to  grapple 
with  emergencies  in  sustaining  her  preroga- 
tives and  in  maintaining  the  defiant  attitude  of 
England.  She  loved  money  as  well  as  power, 
and,  though  penurious,  wielded  her  power  with 
decision  ;  crushed  domestic  rebellion  at  a  blow  ; 
removed  her  fears  of  Mary,  queen  of  Scots,  by 
consigning  her  to  the  block ;  defied  the  power 
of  Spain,  and,  with  the  timely  assistance  of  a 
providential  whirlwind,  sank  the  Spanish  Arma- 
da in  the  depths  of  the  sea. 

Though  unattractive,  her  charms  induced 
sundry  propositions  of  marriage,  particularly 
from  the  king  of  Sweden,  from  the  king  of 
Spain,  and  from  a  young  prince  of  France, 
twenty-five  years  younger  than  herself.  For 
this  young  prince,  it  is  said,  she  entertained  a 
sincere  attachment,  and  went  so  far  as  to  place 


WOMAN  AND  HER  SPHERE.  71 

publicly  on  his  finger  a  costly  ring  as  a  pledge 
of  their  union  ;  but  being  overtaken  soon  after- 
wards by  some  strange  whimsicality,  dismissed 
him,  and  thus  gave  him  leisure  to  reflect  on 
the  vanity  of  human  aspirations.  Yet,  like 
most  artful  women,  she  delighted  in  flirtations, 
and  always  retained  in  her  retinue  a  few  special 
favorites,  among  whom  were  the  Earls  of  Lei- 
cester and  of  Essex.  On  these  men  she  be- 
stowed official  positions  of  high  rank,  and 
evidently  desired  to  make  great  men  of  them ; 
but  Leicester  proved  to  be  destitute  of  brains, 
and  Essex  turned  traitor,  and  was  finally  exe- 
cuted. 

When  advised  to  marry  by  her  counsellors, 
she  replied  that  she  could  not  indulge  such  a 
thought  for  a  moment ;  for  she  had  resolved  that 
the  inscription  on  her  tombstone  should  be,  — 

"  Here  lies  a  queen  who  lived  and  died  a  virgin." 

In  her  seventieth  year  she  died  of  grief,  it  is 
said,  for  having  signed  the  death-warrant  of 
Essex,  for  whom  she  entertained  a  sincere,  yet 
"untold  love." 

The  events  of  her  reign  wrought  great 
changes  in  the  destinies  of  nations.  By  her 
firm  adherence  to  the  Protestant  faith,  she  con- 
tributed much  towards  enlarging  and  strength- 
ening the  foundations  of  civil  and  religious 


72  NATURE  AND  CULTURE. 

liberty.  She  succeeded  by  her  wisdom  and 
diplomacy  in  circumventing  the  subtile  machina- 
tions of  rival  powers.  In  few  words,  it  may 
be  said  of  her,  that  she  was  a  noble  specimen 
of  manly  womanhood. 

Catharine  I.,  empress  of  Russia,  was  born  of 
obscure  parentage,  near  the  close  of  the  seven- 
teenth century.  In  girlhood  she  was  known  by 
the  name  of  Martha,  until  she  embraced  the 
Greek  religion,  when  her  name  was  changed  to 
Catharine.  Her  father  died  when  she  was  but 
three  years  old,  and  left  her  to  the  care  of 
an  invalid  mother,  in  reduced  circumstances. 
When  old  enough  to  be  useful,  Catharine  de- 
voted her  services  to  the  care  and  support  of 
her  mother,  and,  in  attaining  to  womanhood, 
grew  to  be  exceedingly  beautiful.  Her  mother 
had  instructed  her  in  the  rudiments  of  a  com- 
mon education,  which  she  afterwards  perfected 
under  the  tuition  of  a  neighboring  clergyman. 
Among  other  accomplishments,  Catharine  ac- 
quired a  knowledge  of  music  and  dancing,  and 
soon  became  as  attractive  for  her  elegance  of 
manners  as  she  was  celebrated  for  her  beauty. 

In  1701  she  married  a  Swedish  dragoon,  and 
immediately  accompanied  him  to  the  military 
post  assigned  him  in  the  war  which  had  just 
broken  out  between  Sweden  and  Russia.  In  a 
a  battle  which  soon  followed,  she  was  taken 


WOMAN  AND  HER  SPHERE.  73 

prisoner  by  the  Russians.  Her  personal  charms 
soon  attracted  the  attention  of  Peter  the  Great. 
What  became  of  her  husband  is  not  known, 
but  may  be  imagined.  At  any  rate,  the  em- 
peror succeeded  in  winning  her  affections, 
acknowledged  her  as  his  wife,  and  placed  the 
imperial  diadem  on  her  head,  and  the  sceptre  in 
her  hand.  She  soon  proved  herself  to  be  a 
woman  of  wonderful  tact,  shrewdness,  and 
judgment,  and  obtained  an  unbounded  influ- 
ence over  her  husband.  In  fact,  her  advice 
controlled  his  action  ;  and  in  following  it,  he 
acquired  the  enviable  and  lasting  title  of  "  Pe- 
ter the  Great."  Like  her,  thousands  of  women 
have  made  their  husbands  great  men,  and  often 
out  of  very  indifferent  materials. 

After  Peter's  death  Catharine  was  pro- 
claimed empress  and  autocrat  of  all  the  Rus- 
sias.  Her  reign,  though  short,  was  brilliant. 
Her  frailties,  if  she  liad  any,  were  few,  and 
ought  to  be  attributed  to  the  character  of  her 
favorites  rather  than  to  herself.  She  died  at 
the  early  age  of  forty-two,  after  a  brief  reign 
of  a  little  less  than  two  years  as  sole  empress. 
Her  native  endowments  constituted  her  bright- 
est jewels,  —  modesty,  simplicity,  and  beauty. 
It  was  these  angelic  gifts  which  elevated  her 
from  the  obscurity  of  rural  life  to  the  throne  of 
a  great  empire. 


74  NATURE  AND  CULTURE. 

Here  let  us  turn  from  the  Old  World  to  the 
New,  and  look  into  the  parlor,  instead  of  the 
palace,  for  specimens  of  true  womanhood.  It 
is  in  the  private  walks  of  life,  in  the  domestic 
and  social  circles,  that  we  must  look,  if  we 
would  contemplate  the  character  of  woman  in 
its  purest  and  proudest  development.  It  is  in 
her  daily  exhibition  of  heart,  soul,  sympathy, 
generosity,  and  devotion,  that  woman  attains  to 
perfection,  and  crowns  herself  with  a  diadem. 
Everywhere  in  this  great  Republic  are  thou- 
sands of  women  whose  excellence  of  character 
challenges  our  admiration.  Among  those  who 
have  passed  into  the  better  life,  and  whose 
names  are  recorded  on  the  tablet  of  every  Ameri- 
can heart,  is  Martha  Washington. 

In  her  character  we  have  the  character  of  an 
accomplished  American  lady.  Few,  if  any, 
have  ever  excelled  her.  When  the  war  of  the 
Revolution  commenced,  she  accompanied  her 
husband,  who  had  just  been  appointed  com- 
mander-in-chief  of  the  American  armies,  to  the 
military  lines  about  Boston,  and  witnessed  the 
siege  and  evacuation  of  that  city.  She  was 
ever  the  guardian  spirit  of  the  general,  and 
aided  him  materially  in  his  military  career  by 
her  wise  counsels  and  timely  attentions.  While 
he  reasoned  logically  and  deliberately,  she  came 
to  logical  conclusions  instantly,  without  seem- 


WOMAN  AND  HER  SPHERE.  75 

ing  to  reason,  a  facility  of  logic  which  charac- 
terizes almost  every  woman. 

In  her  figure  Martha  was  slight ;  in  her 
manners  easy  and  graceful ;  in  her  temper, 
mild,  yet  cheerful ;  in  her  conversation,  calm, 
yet  fascinating ;  in  her  looks,  beautiful,  espe- 
cially in  her  youthful  days.  So  universally 
admired  and  respected  was  she,  that  everybody 
spoke  of  her  as  "  Lady  Washington." 

She  did  the  honors  of  the  presidential  man- 
sion with  polished  ease,  dignity,  and  grace. 
Her  connubial  life  with  Washington  was  not 
less  exemplary  than  it  was  happy.  His  regard 
for  her  was  as  profound  as  her  devotion  to  him 
was  sincere.  So  solicitous  was  she  for  preserv- 
ing his  good  name  and  fame,  that,  immediately 
after  his  death,  she  destroyed  all  the  domestic 
letters  which  he  had  addressed  to  her,  for  fear 
they  might,  some  day,  be  published,  and  be 
found  to  contain  some  word  or  expression  of  a 
political  nature  which  might  be  construed  to 
his  prejudice. 

Faithful  as  a  wife,  as  a  friend,  and  as  a  Chris- 
tian, she  proved  herself  a  model  woman.  She 
survived  her  husband  but  two  years,  and  died 
at  the  age  of  seventy.  In  life  she  occupied  a 
position  which  queens  might  envy ;  and  in 
death,  bequeathed  a  memory  which  will  be 
cherished  in  a  nation's  heart,  when  the  proud 


76  NATURE  AND   CULTURE. 

monuments  of  kings  and  queens  have  crumbled 
into  dust  and  been  forgotten. 

If  time  would  permit  us,  and  if  it  could  be 
done  without  making  invidious  distinctions,  it 
would  be  no  less  delightful  than  instructive  to 
refer  specifically  to  the  names  and  deeds  of 
many  other  American  women  who  have  graced 
the  age  in  which  they  lived,  and  added  lustre 
to  the  annals  of  our  Republic.  But  we  must 
content  ourselves  by  alluding  to  them  in  general 
terms ;  and,  in  doing  this,  we  must  admit  the 
fact,  that  the  noble  deeds  and  exalted  virtues 
of  woman  occupy  a  much  less  space  in  the 
world's  history  than  they  ought. 

It  is  sufficiently  evident  to  everybody  that 
women,  in  all  the  relations  of  life,  exhibit  a 
keener  appreciation  of  right  and  wrong  than 
men.  Hence  they  are  usually  the  first  to  ap- 
prove what  is  right,  and  the  last  to  concur  in 
what  is  wrong.  It  was  this  devotion  to  princi- 
ple which  induced  American  women  in  the  days 
of  the  Revolution  to  submit  to  the  severest 
trials  and  deprivations,  while  they  encouraged 
their  sons,  husbands,  and  brothers,  to  go  forth 
to  the  battle-field  in  defence  of  their  country. 
In  proof  of  their  patriotism,  these  noble  women, 
with  their  own  hands  and  with  cheerful  hearts, 
spun,  wove,  knit,  and  baked  for  the  brave  and 
suffering  soldiers;  and  even  made  an  offering 


WOMAN  AND  HER  SPHERE.  77 

of  their  jewels  on  the  altar  of  liberty ;  and 
rather  than  see  the  enemy  enriched  by  traffic 
and  unjust  revenues,  complacently  approved  the 
policy  which  cast  rich  cargoes  of  their  favorite 
beverage  into  the  depths  of  the  sea. 

It  was  the  same  spirit,  the  same  patriotism, 
which  inspired  the  women  of  our  own  times,  on 
a  still  broader  scale,  in  the  late  struggle  of  the 
North  to  crush  the  rebellion  of  the  South,  and 
sustain  in  all  its  purity,  its  honor,  and  its  glory, 
the  dear  old  flag  of  the  Union.  This  great 
work  has  been  done  manfully  and  nobly,  and  at 
immense  sacrifices  of  treasure  and  of  blood ; 
but  it  could  not  have  been  done  without  the 
aid  and  encouragement  of  woman.  It  was 
woman  who  held  the  key  and  unlocked  the 
hearts  of  twenty  millions  of  people,  and  induced 
them,  by  her  pleading  appeals,  to  pour  out  their 
noble  charities,  as  from  floodgates,  to  supply 
the  urgent  needs  of  the  largest  and  the  bravest 
army  the  world  ever  beheld.  It  was  woman, 
whose  delicate  hand  nursed  the  sick,  the 
wounded,  and  the  dying  soldier,  and  whose 
sympathies  and  prayers  soothed  and  cheered  his 
departing  spirit. 

In  the  Sanitary  Commission,  in  the  Christian 
Commission,  woman  was  the  master-spirit,  the 
angel  of  mercy,  the  music  of  whose  hovering 
wings  animated  the  weary  march  of  our  gallant 


78  NATURE  AND  CULTURE. 

volunteers,  and  inspired  their  souls  with  invin- 
cible courage.  It  is  woman  who  weaves  the 
only  wreath  of  honor  which  a  true-hearted  hero 
desires  to  wear  on  his  brow,  and  the  only  one 
worthy  of  his  highest  aspirations.  It  is  an  in- 
disputable fact  that  the  power,  the  patriotism, 
and  the  influence  of  woman,  constitute  the  great 
moral  elements  of  our  Republic,  and  of  our  civil 
and  religious  institutions. 

It  is  the  educated  and  accomplished  women 
of  our  country  who  have  refined  the  men,  as 
well  as  the  youth  of  the  land,  and  given  tone 
to  public  sentiment.  It  is  this  class  of  women 
who  have  purified  our  literature,  and  moulded 
it  to  harmonize  with  the  pure  principles  of 
a  Christian  philosophy.  In  the  fine  arts,  and 
even  in  the  abstruse  sciences,  women  have  ex- 
celled as  well  as  men.  In  the  catalogue  of  dis- 
tinguished authors  there  are  to  be  found,  both 
in  this  country  and  in  Europe,  nearly  as  many 
women  as  men.  From  the  facts  which  we  have 
already  adduced,  it  is  evident  enough  that  wo- 
man, in  the  exercise  of  intellectual,  if  not  polit- 
ical power,  is  fully  the  equal  of  man,  while  in 
tact  and  shrewdness  she  is  generally  his  supe- 
rior. According  to  the  old,  but  truthful  saying, 
it  is  impossible  for  a  man  to  outwit  a  shrewd 
woman;  and,  instead  of  asking  what  can  a 
woman  do,  we  should  ask,  what  is  there  a  wo- 
man cannot  do  ? 


WOMAN  AND  HER  SPHERE.  79 

Whenever  women  are  left  to  take  care  of 
themselves  in  the  world,  as  thousands  are,  they 
should  not  only  have  the  right,  but  it  is  their 
duty,  to  engage  in  any  of  the  industrial  pur- 
suits for  which  they  are  fitted.  The  principal 
difference  between  man  and  woman  is  physical 
strength ;  and,  for  this  reason,  the  lighter  em- 
ployments should  be  assigned  to  women.  In 
whatever  employment  men  are  out  of  place, 
women  should  take  their  place ;  especially  in 
retailing  fancy  goods,  in  book-keeping,  in  tele- 
graphing, in  type-setting,  in  school-teaching, 
and  in  many  other  like  employments ;  nor  need 
they  be  excluded  from  the  learned  professions. 
In  fact,  we  already  have  lady  clergymen,  and 
lady  physicians ;  and  doubtless  the  character  of 
the  bar  would  be  much  elevated  by  the  admis- 
sion of  lady  lawyers  ;  nor  can  we  doubt  but  that 
they  would  excel  in  prosecuting  suits  com- 
menced by  "  attachment,"  if  not  in  every  other 
class  of  cases. 

If  women  choose  to  compete  with  men  in 
any  of  the  learned  professions,  or  in  any  other 
pursuit,  and  are  fitted  to  achieve  success,  there 
is  nothing  in  the  way  to  prevent  them  ;  yet  it 
does  not  follow  that  they  can  take  the  places 
of  men  in  every  thing,  especially  in  those  em- 
ployments which  require  masculine  strength  and 
great  physical  endurance.  Nor  does  it  follow 


80  NATURE  AND  CULTURE. 

that  women  who  pay  taxes  should  therefore 
have  the  right  of  suffrage.  The  fact  that  they 
hold  property  does  not  change  their  status,  nor 
does  it  confer  political  rights. 

The  right  of  suffrage  is  a  political  right,  and 
not  a  natural  right.  The  exercise  of  this  polit- 

al  right  carries  with  it  the  law-making  power, 
the  duty  of  protecting  persons  and  property, 
and  consequently  of  maintaining  and  defending 
the  government.  They  who  make  the  govern- 
ment are  therefore  bound  to  defend  it.  Nature 
never  intended  that  women  should  become  sol- 
diers, and  face  the  cannon's  mouth  in  the  battle- 
field ;  nor  did  she  give  them  strength  to  construct 
railroads,  tunnel  mountains,  build  war-ships,  or 
man  them.  Yet  women,  prompted  by  affection 
or  romantic  sentiment,  have  been  known  to 
become  soldiers  in  disguise,  and  perhaps  have 
fought  bravely  in  the  battle-field ;  but  this,  of 
itself,  proves  nothing  :  it  is  merely  an  exception 
to  a  general  rule ;  or,  in  other  words,  an  eccen- 
tricity of  character.  In  all  ages  of  the  world, 
as  we  have  shown,  the  mere  force  of  circum- 
stances has  occasionally  unsphered  woman,  and 
placed  her  in  unnatural  situations,  in  which  she 
has  sometimes  achieved  a  brilliant  success,  —  on 
the  throne  and  off  the  throne,  in  peace  and  in 
war,  in  political  life  and  in  social  life.  Yet  in 
stepping  out  of  her  sphere,  whatever  may  be 


WOMAN  AND  HER  SPHERE.  81 

her  success,  every  true  woman  feels   that  she 
"  o'ersteps  the  modesty  of  nature." 

When  woman  glides  into  her  natural  position, 
—  that  of  a  wife,  —  it  is  then  only  that  she 
occupies  her  appropriate  sphere,  and  exhibits  in 
its  most  attractive  form  the  loveliness  of  her 
character.  Marriage  is  an  institution  as  essen- 
tial to  the  stability  and  harmony  of  the  social 
system  as  gravity  is  to  the  order  and  preserva- 
tion of  the  planetary  system.  In  the  domestic 
circle,  the  devoted  wife  becomes  the  centre  of 
attraction,  the  "  angel  of  the  household."  Her 
world  is  her  home  ;  her  altar,  the  hearthstone. 
In  her  daily  ministrations,  she  makes  herself 
angelic  by  making  home  a  heaven,  and  every 
one  happy  who  may  come  within  the  "  charmed 
circle  "  of  her  kind  cares  and  generous  sympa- 
thies. 'In  fact,  there  is  no  place  like  home, 
"  sweet  home,"  when  on  its  sacred  altar  burns 
the  blended  incense  of  harmonious  souls,  — 

"Two  souls  with  but  a  single  thought, 
Two  hearts  that  beat  as  one." 

It  is  certain  that  man  and  woman  were  never 
created  to  live  independent  of  each  other. 
They  are  but  counterparts,  and  therefore  incom- 
plete until  united  in  wedlock.  Hence  they  who 
prefer  single  blessedness  are  justly  chargeable 
with  the  "  sin  of  omission,"  if  not  the  "  unpar- 

6 


82  NATURE  AND  CULTURE. 

donable  sin."  It  is  difficult  to  estimate  the 
fearful  responsibilities  of  those  fossilized  bachel- 
ors who  persist  in  sewing  on  their  own  buttons 
and  in  mending  their  own  stockings.  Yet  these 
selfish  gentlemen  frankly  admit  that  there  may 
have  been  such  a  thing  as  "  true  love  "  in  the 
olden  times ;  but  now,  say  they,  the  idea  has 
become  obsolete  ;  and  if  a  bachelor  were  to  ask 
a  young  lady  to  share  his  lot,  she  would  imme- 
diately want  to  know  how  large  the  "lot"  is, 
and  what  is  its  value.  In  further  justification, 
they  quote  Socrates,  who,  being  asked  whether 
it  were  better  for  a  man  to  marry  or  live  single, 
replied,  "  Let  him  do  either,  and  he  will  repent 
it."  But  this  is  not  argument,  nor  is  it  always 
true,  even  in  a  sordid  marriage,  as  appears  in 
the  following  instance.  Not  long  since,  in  New 
York,  a  bachelor  of  twenty-two  married  a  rich 
maiden  of  fifty-five,  who  died  within  a  month 
after  the  nuptials,  and  left  him  a  half  million  of 
dollars.  He  says  he  has  never  "  repented  "  the 
marriage. 

The  age  in  which  we  live  is  one  of  experi- 
ment and  of  novel  theories,  both  in  religion  and 
in  politics.  In  modern  spiritualism  we  have 
entranced  women,  who  give  us  reports  from  the 
dead.  In  modern  crusades  we  have  devout 
women,  who  visit  tippling-houses,  and  convert 
them  into  sanctuaries  of  prayer.  In  politics  we 


WOMAN  AND  HER  SPHERE.  83 

have  mismated  and  unmated  women,  who  hold 
conventions,  clamor  for  the  ballot,  and  advocate 
the  doctrine  of  "  natural  selection." 

It  is  true  that  every  marriageable  woman  has 
a  natural  right  to  select,  if  not  elect,  a  husband  ; 
and  this  she  may  and  ought  to  do,  not  by  bal- 
lot, but  by  the  influence  of  her  charms  and  her 
virtues.  If  all  marriageable  men  and  women 
were  but  crystallized  into  happy  families,  earth 
would  soon  become  a  paradise.  Yet,  if  thisri 
were  done,  I  doubt  not  there  would  still  remain 
some  "  strong-minded  "  women,  who  would  get 
up  a  convention  to  reform  paradise.  The  truth 
is,  the  women  will  do  pretty  much  as  they 
please,  and  the  best  way  is  to  let  them. 

Yet  all  must  admit  that  a  woman  of  refine- 
ment is  not  only  a  ruling  spirit,  but  "  a  power 
behind  the  throne  greater  than   the  power  on    \ 
the  throne."     Her  rights  are,  therefore,  within 
her   own   grasp.      Among  these,   she   has   the 
right,  and  to  her  belongs  the  responsible  duty, 
of  educating  her  children  in  first  principles,  and 
in   those   sanctified   lessons   which   have    been 
revealed  to  man  from  Heaven.    It  is  the  mother's 
precepts  which  constitute  the  permanent  foun- 
dation of  the  child's  future  character.     Hence 
no  woman  is  really  competent  to  discharge  the 
responsible  duties   of   a  mother  as  she  ought, 
unless   she   has    first  been  properly  educated. 


84  NATURE  AND  CULTURE. 

There  can  be  no  object  more  deserving  of  com- 
miseration, perhaps,  than  a  mother  who  is  sur- 
rounded by  a  family  of  young  children,  and  yet 
is  so  ignorant  as  to  be  unable  to  instruct  them 
in  the  rudiments  of  a  common  school  education, 
and  in  the  fundamental  principles  of  a  Christian 
life.  The  character  of  every  child,  it  may  be 
assumed,  is  essentially  formed  at  seven  years  of 
age.  The  mother  of  Washington  knew  this, 
and  felt  it,  and,  in  the  education  of  her  son, 
taught  him  at  an  early  age  the  leading  truths 
of  Christianity.  She  took  the  Bible  for  her 
guide,  and  taught  him  to  take  the  Bible  for  his 
guide.  His  subsequent  career  proves  that  he 
adhered  to  the  instructions  of  his  mother. 
When  he  came  to  pay  her  a  visit,  at  the  close 
of  the  war,  after  an  absence  of  seven  long 
years,  she  received  him,  with  the  overflowing 
heart  of  a  mother,  as  her  dutiful  son,  and 
thought  of  him,  only  as  a  dutiful  son ;  never 
uttering  a  word  in  reference  to  the  honors  he 
had  won  as  a  military  chieftain. 

Soon  after  this,  Gen.  Lafayette,  wishing  to 
make  the  acquaintance  of  the  mother  of  Wash- 
ington before  returning  to  France,  called  at  her 
residence  in  Virginia,  and  introduced  himself. 
He  found  her  at  work  in  the  garden,  clad  in  a 
homespun  dress,  and  her  gray  head  covered 
with  a  plain  straw  hat.  She  saluted  him  kindly, 


WOMAN  AND  HER  SPHERE.  85 

and  calmly  remarked,  "  Ah,  Marquis,  you  see 
an  old  woman ;  but  come,  I  can  make  you  wel- 
come in  my  poor  dwelling  without  the  parade 
of  changing  my  dress."  In  the  course  of  con- 
versation Lafayette  complimented  her  as  the 
mother  of  a  son  who  had  achieved  the  indepen- 
dence of  his  country,  and  acquired  lasting  honors 
for  himself.  The  old  lady,  without  the  least 
manifestation  of  gratified  pride,  simply  re- 
sponded, "  I  am  not  surprised  at  what  George 
has  done,  for  he  was  always  a  very  good  boy." 
What  a  noble  response,  in  its  moral  grandeur, 
was  this  ?  Certain  it  is  that  such  a  mother  was 
worthy  of  such  a  son.  A  monument,  plain,  yet 
expressive  in  its  design,  has  been  erected  at 
Fredericksburg,  to  her  memory.  It  bears  this 
simple,  yet  sublime  inscription,  — 

"  Mary,  the  Mother  of  Washington." 

The  extent  of  woman's  moral  power  can  only 
be  limited  by  the  extent  of  her  capacities.  In 
every  circle,  whether  domestic,  social,  or  polit- 
ical, the  accomplished  woman  is  a  central 
power,  —  imperium  in  imperio  ;  and,  though  she 
may  not  directly  exercise  the  right  of  suffrage, 
yet  her  influence  and  her  counsels,  even  an  ex- 
pression of  her  wish,  enable  her  to  control  the 
political,  as  well  as  the  social  destinies  of  men 
and  of  nations.  It  is  in  this  way  that  she  may 


86  NATURE  AND   CULTURE. 

"  have  her  way."  It  was  the  accomplished  wife 
of  Mr.  Monroe  who  made  him  President  of  the 
United  States.  She  was  the  first  to  propose  his 
name  as  a  candidate.  Her  influence  with  mem- 
bers of  Congress  induced  them  to  concur  in 
advocating  his  election.  He  was  elected.  His 
administration,  as  we  all  know,  was  distinguished 
as  "  the  era  of  good  feeling." 

The  prevalent  idea  that  women  need  less 
education  than  men,  is  a  gross  error,  worthy  of 
heathendom  perhaps,  but  entirely  unworthy  of 
Christendom.  Let  women  be  as  generally  and 
as  liberally  educated  as  men,  and,  my  word  for 
it,  the  question  of  women's  rights  would  soon 
settle  itself.  The  right  of  women  to  be  thus 
educated  cannot  be  doubted,  because  it  is  a 
divine  right,  and  because  God  has  made  woman 
the  maternal  teacher  of  mankind,  and  the  chief 
cornerstone  of  the  social  fabric.  Yet  she  should 
be  educated  with  reference  to  her  proper  sphere 
as  woman,  —  a  sphere  which  is  higher  than 
that  of  man  in  the  economy  of  Nature.  Her 
capacities  for  industrial  pursuits,  such  as  are 
consistent  with  her  physical  abilities,  should  be 
developed  so  that  she  may  be  qualified  to  pro- 
vide for  herself,  and  to  sustain  herself  in  life's 
battle,  if  need  be,  without  the  aid  of  a  "  com- 
panion in  arms." 

Nevertheless,   niarm^e   is    one   of  heaven's 


WOMAN  AND  HER  SPHERE.  87 

irrevocable  laws.  It  is,  in  fact,  the  great  law  of 
all  animal  life,  and  even  of  plant  life.  Nowhere 
in  nature  is  there  a  single  instance  in  which  this 
law  is  not  obeyed,  in  due  time,  except  in  the  case 
of  mankind.  Why  is  this?  It  certainly  would 
not  be  so  if  it  were  not  for  some  grand  defect 
in  our  social  system,  —  some  false  notions  ac- 
quired by  education,  which  are  peculiar  to  our 
civilization,  and  which  induce  apostasy  to  truth 
and  natural  justice.  Man  was  created  to  be  the 
protector  of  woman,  and  woman  to  be  the  help- 
meet of  man.  Each,  therefore,  has  an  appro- 
priate sphere  ;  and  the  obligations  of  each  are 
mutual,  growing  out  of  their  mutual  interests 
and  dependence.  The  sphere  of  the  one  is 
just  as  important  as  the  sphere  of  the  other. 
Neither  can  live,  nor  ought  to  live,  without  the 
aid,  the  love,  and  the  sympathy  of  the  other. 
Whether  so  disposed  or  not,  neither  can  commit 
an  infraction  of  the  other's  rights,  without  vio- 
lating a  law  of  Nature. 

Whatever  may  be  the  evils  of  our  present 
social  or  political  system,  it  is  evident  that  the 
right  of  suffrage,  if  extended  to  woman,  could 
not  afford  a  remedy ;  but,  on  the  contrary, 
would  tend  to  weaken,  rather  than  strengthen, 
mutual  interests,  by  creating  unwomanly  aspira- 
tions and  domestic  dissensions,  thus  sunder- 
ing the  ties  of  love  aud  affection  which  naturally 


88  NATURE  AND  CULTURE. 

exist  between  the  sexes.  In  a  word,  it  would 
be  opening  Pandora's  box,  and  letting  escape 
the  imps  of  social  and  political  discord,  and 
finally  result  in  universal  misrule,  if  not  in 
positive  anarchy. 

Modesty  and  delicacy  are  the  crowning  char- 
acteristics of  a  true  woman.  She  naturally 
shrinks  from  the  storms  of  political  strife.  Give 
her  the  right  of  suffrage,  —  a  boon  no  sensible 
woman  desires,  —  place  her  in  office,  in  the  halls 
of  legislation,  in  the  Presidential  chair ;  enrobe 
her  with  the  judicial  ermine  ;  or  make  her  the 
executive  officer  of  a  criminal  tribunal ;  and  how 
could  she  assume  the  tender  relations  of  a 
mother,  and  at  the  same  time  officiate  in  either 
of  these  high  places  of  public  trust,  in  which 
the  sternest  and  most  inflexible  duties  are  often 
required  to  be  performed  ? 

It  is  not  possible,  however,  that  the  erratic 
comets,  whose  trailing  light  occasionally  flashes 
athwart  our  political  sky,  will  ever  acquire 
sufficient  momentum  to  jostle  the  "  fixed  stars  " 
out  of  place,  because  there  is  a  fixed  law  of 
\  ^--Nature  which  preserves  them  in  place.  There 
is  also  a  law  of  Nature  which  makes  man  not 
only  the  protector,  but  the  worshipper  of  woman, 
—  a  worship  which  is  as  instinctively  paid  as 
reciprocated ;  and  which  is  by  no  means  incon- 
sistent with  the  worship  of  God,  but,  in  truth, 


WOMAN  AND  HER  SPHERE.  89 

is  a  part  of  it.  It  is  this  kind  of  worship,  this 
natural  and  holy  impulse  of  the  heart,  which  con- 
stitutes the  basis  of  man's  rights,  and  of  woman's 
rights,  and  should  harmonize  all  their  relations 
in  life. 

We  see  the  instinctive  exhibition  of  man's 
reverence  for  woman  almost  every  day  of  our 
lives,  and  often  in  a  way  that  proves  how  ridicu- 
lous are  modern  theories  in  regard  to  woman's 
rights,  when  brought  to  the  test  in  practical  \  \ 
life.  Not  long  since,  in  one  of  our  cities  where 
a  woman's-rights  convention  was  in  session,  a 
strong-minded  female  delegate  entered  a  street- 
railway  car,  when  an  old  gentleman  rose  to  give 
her  his  seat ;  but,  at  the  moment,  suspecting 
her  to  be  a  delegate,  asked,  "  Be  you  one  of 
these  women's  righters  ?  "  —  "I  am."  —  "  You 
believe  a  woman  should  have  all  the  rights  of  a 
man  ?  "  —  "  Yes,  I  do."  —  u  Then  stand  up  and 
enjoy  them  like  a  man."  And  stand  up  she  did, 
—  the  old  gentleman  coolly  resuming  his  seat, 
to  the  great  amusement  of  the  other  passen- 
gers. 

Whatever  may  be  the  pretensions  of  agitators, 
it  is  certain  that  no  woman  of  refined  culture, 
or  of  proper  self-respect,  will  attempt  to  step 
outside  of  her  appropriate  sphere.  This  she 
cannot  do  if  she  would,  without  doing  violence 
to  the  sensibilities  of  her  nature.  When  true 


90  NATURE  AND  CULTURE. 

to  herself,  woman,  like  the  lily  of  the  valley, 
prefers  the  valley,  where  she  can  display  her 
native  loveliness  in  comparative  retirement, 
secure  from  the  inclemencies  of  a  frowning  sky  ; 
while  man,  born  with  a  more  rugged  nature, 
prefers,  like  the  sturdy  oak,  to  climb  the  hills 
and  the  mountains,  where  he  delights  to  breast 
the  assaults  of  storm  and  tempest,  and  to  fling 
the  shadow  of  his  stately  form  over  the  valley, 
as  if  to  protect  the  ethereal  beauty  of  the  lily 
from  the  too  ardent  gaze  of  the  sun.  And, 
though  a  solitary  flower  may  sometimes  be  seen 
climbing  the  mountain  height,  it  is  only  the 
modest  lily  of  the  valley,  the  true  woman,  whose 
approving  smile  man  aspires  to  share,  and  whose 
virtue  and  purity  call  into  exercise  his  noblest 
and  holiest  sympathies. 

"  Honored  be  woman  !  she  beams  on  the  sight, 
Graceful  and  fair  as  an  angel  of  light ; 
Scatters  around  her,  wherever  she  strays, 
Roses  of  bliss  on  our  thorn-covered  ways ; 
Roses  of  Paradise,  sent  from  above, 
To  be  gathered  and  twined  in  a  garland  of  love  ! " 


EDUCATION  AND  ITS  EEEOES, 


EDUCATION  AND  ITS  ERRORS. 

IT  is  the  welfare  of  society,  rather  than  that 
of  the  individual,  which  is  sought  to  be  pro- 
moted by  a  system  of  popular  education. 
Every  part  of  the  social  fabric  should  be  fitted 
to  its  place,  and  go  into  place  like  the  materials 
in  Solomon's  temple,  without  the  sound  of  the 
hammer.  Yet  a  refined  civilization  cannot  be 
attained  without  first  securing  a  liberal  mental 
culture  of  the  masses. 

Nature,  as  if  inspired  by  a  divine  instinct,  is 
ever  engaged  in  refining  her  materials.  The 
laws  by  which  she  works  are  as  applicable  to 
mind  as  to  matter.  In  man  we  see  both  mind 
and  matter  combined — two  natures:  the  intel- 
lectual and  the  physical.  But  in  order  to  learn 
what  we  are,  and  what  we  should  be,  we  must 
first  understand  the  relations  in  which  we  are 
placed.  In  attempting  to  do  this,  we  must 
study  man  as  well  as  nature,  and  advance  step 
by  step,  if  we  would  achieve  the  highest  attain- 
ments of  which  we  are  capable. 

He  only  is  a  man,  in  the  true  sense,  whose 
mental,  moral,  and  physical  capacities  have  been 

93 


94  NATURE  AND   CULTURE. 

fully  developed.  To  be  "  twenty-one  years  of 
age  and  six  feet  high"  does  not,  of  itself,  con- 
stitute a  man.  He  must  attain  to  something 
more  than  this.  He  must  have  the  head  and 
the  heart  and  the  soul  of  a  man.  He  must 
appreciate  the  true  character  of  his  position, 
and  have  the  moral  courage  to  discharge  his 
duties  ;  in  short,  he  must  live  for  others  as  well 
as  for  himself ;  act  from  generous  impulses,  and, 
in  all  he  does,  yield  to  "  the  divinity  that  stirs 
within  him,"  if  he  would  comprehend  the  import 
of  his  godlike  destiny. 

The  highway  to  knowledge,  though  rugged, 
is  equally  free  and  open  to  all.  Whoever  will 
may  enter  the  temple  of  Nature,  interrogate 
her  face  to  face,  unlock  her  treasures,  appro- 
priate her  wealth,  and  subject  her  subtile  agen- 
cies to  human  service.  This  the  nineteenth 
century  has  already  done  to  a  considerable 
extent.  Thus  far  it  has  been  a  bold  century, 
and  has  taken  many  bold  steps :  it  has  "  knocked 
holes  through  the  blind  walls  "  of  the  last  ten 
centuries,  and  exposed  to  daylight  the  "  moles 
and  the  bats"  of  antiquity;  and  still  it  demands 
more  light.  Such  is  the  spirit  of  the  age,  —  a 
demand  for  naked  truth  in  all  its  beautiful  pro- 
portions. Never,  until  this  nineteenth  century, 
have  the  masses  really  discovered  their  mission, 
—  the  great  fact  that  they  were  created  to  think 


EDUCATION  AND  ITS  ERRORS.  95 

as  well  as  work,  and  to  govern  as  well  as  be 
governed.  And  yet  the  world  may  be  regarded 
as  still  in  its  infancy  ;  nor  has  the  human  mind, 
as  compared  with  its  possibilities,  emerged  from 
its  cradle,  or  even  thrown  off  its  swaddling 
garments. 

Though  capable  of  sublime  achievements, 
man,  at  birth,  is  not  only  one  of  the  most  help- 
less, but  one  of  the  most  ignorant  specimens  of 
animal  existence.  It  is  said  by  physiologists 
that  an  infant  can  neither  smile  nor  shed  a  tear 
until  forty  days  old.  In  his  infancy  the  world 
to  him  is  but  a  panorama  of  strange  objects. 
In  due  time,  however,  he  discovers  that  he  has 
every  thing  to  learn,  and  needs  to  learn  every 
thing  before  he  can  comprehend  himself  or 
wield  the  power  which  Heaven  has  assigned 
him. 

The  degree  of  culture  required  to  render  man 
what  he  should  be  —  godlike  in  his  character  — 
admits  of  no  compromise  with  ignorance,  super- 
stition, or  sectarianism;  but,  on  the  contrary, 
involves  the  necessity  of  establishing  and  sus- 
taining such  an  educational  system  as  will  be 
adapted  to  the  needs  of  the  masses,  and  work 
in  accordance  with  the  laws  of  matter  and  of 
mind. 

It  is  to  the  masses  that  our  country  must  look 
for  her  best  material  and  for  her  future  intellectual 


96  NATURE  AND  CULTURE. 

giants.  In  every  age  of  the  world  more  or 
less  great  men  have  been  produced.  At  a  time 
when  most  needed  our  own  country  produced 
a  Washington,  a  Jefferson,  and  a  Franklin,  who 
distinguished  themselves  and  the  age  in  which 
they  lived,  —  the  age  which  gave  birth  to  human 
rights.  At  a  later  period  appeared  a  Jackson, 
a  Clay,  and  a  Webster,  —  the  defenders  of  the 
Constitution  and  of  the  Union,  —  who  have  left 
behind  them  a  brilliant  record.  But,  notwith- 
standing their  conservative  efforts,  there  came  a 
spirit  of  reform,  sowing  dragon-teeth,  which  soon 
sprang  to  life,  and  filled  the  land  with  armed 
heroes,  who  bravely  met  in  deadly  conflict,  and 
decided  forever  the  great  question  of  human 
freedom ;  and  consequently  we  now  have,  instead 
of  a  few,  a  great  many  men  of  world-wide 
renown,  who  have  made  for  themselves  and  for 
their  country  a  proud  history. 

In  order  to  preserve  our  liberties  we  must 
have  men  of  large  hearts  and  wise  heads,  —  men 
who  can  wear  the  armor  of  giants  because  they 
are  giants.  In  short,  we  must  recognize  the 
great  fact  that  every  child  in  the  land  has  a 
God-given  right  to  an  education,  —  a  right  which 
no  parent  should  be  allowed  to  sell  for  u  a  mess 
of  pottage."  Our  national  watchword  should 
be  "  Education ;"  and  the  system  should  be  so 
constructed  as  to  reach  all  classes  of  youth  by 
methods  not  only  efficient  but  attractive. 


EDUCATION  AND  ITS  ERRORS.  97 

It  will  be  said  by  some,  perhaps,  that  it  is 
quite  impossible  to  educate  the  masses  in  the 
higher  branches  of  learning,  unless  they  be 
withdrawn  from  the  indispensable  labors  of  the 
field  and  the  workshop,  and  thus  be  compelled 
to  neglect  the  industrial  pursuits  on  which  they 
must  depend  for  their  physical  comforts,  —  bread, 
raiment,  and  shelter.  However  plausible  this 
objection  may  seem,  it  certainly  does  not  afford 
a  sufficient  reason  why  the  facilities  of  acquiring 
a  good  education  should  not  be  equally  extended 
to  all  classes. 

Manual  labor  and  a  high  degree  of  intelli- 
gence are  by  no  means  incompatible ;  but,  on 
the  contrary,  must  be  associated,  in  order  to 
achieve  great  or  brilliant  results.  It  is  true, 
however,  that  the  physical  wants  of  man  must 
first  be  supplied,  before  you  can  proceed  suc- 
cessfully with  the  cultivation  of  his  intellectual 
powers.  The  fact  is  every  day  exemplified, 
that  bread  is  much  easier  gained  by  an  intelli- 
gent than  by  an  ignorant  laborer.  Whatever 
faith  may  do,  it  is  certain  that  science  and  labor 
must  be  combined  if  we  would  either  tunnel  or 
"  remove  mountains  ;  "  and  though  native  tal- 
ent may  have  been  distributed  with  more  liber- 
ality to  some  than  to  others,  all  are  under  the 
highest  obligations  to  improve  such  as  they 
have,  whether  it  be  one  talent  or  twenty  talents. 


98  NATURE  AND  CULTURE. 

The  farmer,  the  mechanic,  the  merchant,  and 
even  the  busy  housewife,  have  more  or  less 
leisure  hours, — long  winter  evenings,  holidays, 
and  sabbath  days,  amounting  to  nearly  half  a 
lifetime,  —  which  might,  with  great  profit,  be 
employed  in  the  acquisition  of  useful  knowl- 
edge, through  the  medium  of  choice  books  and 
interchange  of  thought.  Indeed,  almost  every 
one  who  has  received  a  common-school  educa- 
tion may  so  improve  the  fragments  of  time 
which  fall  in  his  way  as  to  acquire,  in  the 
course  of  an  ordinary  lifetime,  a  pretty  thor- 
ough acquaintance  with  the  sciences,  and  with 
general  literature. 

Though  our  leisure  hours  may  seem  too  few 
to  be  worth  improving,  yet  it  is  by  saving  pen- 
nies that  we  accumulate  wealth.  Surprising  as 
it  may  seem,  there  are  within  the  allotted  age 
of  man,  ten  years  of  sabbaths  when  taken  in 
the  aggregate  ;  ample  time,  one  would  suppose, 
for  perfecting,  in  a  good  degree  at  least,  his 
intellectual  and  moral  culture.  If  mankind 
were  as  orthodox  in  their  actions  as  they  pro- 
fess to  be  in  their  creeds,  the  moral  regeneration 
of  the  world  would  soon  be  accomplished.  One 
of  the  most  formidable  barriers  in  the  way  of 
human  advancement  is  the  faith  we  have  de- 
rived, not  from  revelation,  but  from  the  blind 
interpretation  of  it.  A  true  theology  and  a 


EDUCATION  AND  ITS  ERRORS.  99 

sound  philosophy  can  never  come  in  conflict. 
In  this  enlightened  age,  it  is  absurd  to  expect 
that  science  will  confine  her  inquiries  within, 
the  circumference  of  a  circle,  or  so  modify  her 
annunciations  of  truth  as  to  coincide  with  the 
mystical  traditions  which  have  been  handed 
down  to  us  from  a  remote  antiquity. 

As  an  encouragement  to  the  friends  of  pop- 
ular education,  the  fact  should  not  be  over- 
looked, that  the  masses  have  been,  to  a  great 
extent,  relieved  from  the  necessity  of  constant 
toil  by  the  introduction  of  modern  machinery. 
In  fact,  genius  has  conquered  time,  and  given 
time  to  the  masses.  It  has  broken  the  fetters 
that  bound  them,  and  thus  afforded  them  leisure 
for  self-culture,  social  intercourse,  and  the  inves- 
tigation of  truth. 

It  is  the  magic  power  of  genius  which  has 
given  life  and  brain  to  machinery,  and  which 
compels  it  to  perform  the  hard  work  of  the  fac- 
tory, of  the  workshop,  of  the  farm,  and  of  the 
household.  In  almost  every  department  of  in- 
dustry, machinery  does  the  hard  work.  It 
spins  and  weaves  and  knits.  It  saws  and 
planes  and  wields  the  hammer.  It  reaps  and 
mows  and  thrashes.  It  churns  and  washes  and 
plies  the  needle.  In  fact,  it  does  nearly  every 
thing  else  for  us,  except  to  breathe,  eat,  and 
digest  our  food.  It  was  the  inventive  genius  of 


100  NATURE  AND  CULTURE. 

our  Northern  people,  the  legitimate  growth  of 
our  common-school  system,  that  produced,  at 
the  moment  when  wanted,  iron-clads,  monster 
cannon,  and  Greek  fire ;  and,  in  the  sequel, 
saved  the  Union,  and  overawed  the  powers  of 
Europe.  It  was  these  warlike  inventions  which 
secured  us  the  elements  of  a  lasting  peace,  and 
the  respect  of  the  civilized  world. 

It  may  be  truly  said  that  we  now  live  longer 
in  ten  years  than  our  ancestors  did  in  twenty, 
and  accomplish  twenty  times  as  much.  Still  it 
is  not  possible  for  any  one  man  to  know  and  do 
every  thing.  Men  of  genius  are  specialties, 
seldom  or  never  universalities.  Hence  a  diver- 
sity of  talent  naturally  dictates  a  division  of 
labor.  And  yet  American  genius,  if  not  uni- 
versal, must  be  acknowledged  eminently  inven- 
tive and  practical.  The  Americans  have  made, 
we  may  venture  to  assert,  more  valuable  dis- 
coveries in  the  last  half  century  than  all  the 
world  besides.  The  reason  why  this  is  so  may 
be  attributed  to  the  operation  of  a  physical  law, 
in  connection  with  the  effect  of  a  liberal  system 
of  popular  education.  The  Americans  are  a 
mixed  race,  made  up  of  all  nations,  and  have 
been  improved  and  elevated,  as  a  race,  by  trans- 
fusion of  blood,  which  has  resulted  in  producing 
increased  activity  of  brain,  with  new  modes  of 
thought,  and  new  exhibitions  of  intellectual 
power. 


EDUCATION  AND  ITS  ERRORS.  101 

But  notwithstanding  this  peculiarity  of  char- 
acter, there  still  remains,  as  it  seems  to  me,  one 
great  and  glaring  error  in  the  prevailing  system 
of  American  education.  This  error  consists  in 
our  neglecting  to  develop  more  fully  the  physi- 
cal man,  through  the  instrumentalities  of  sys- 
tematic labor  combined  with  systematic  study. 
In  many  of  the  German  States,  if  not  in  all, 
the  plan  of  educating  youth  is  much  more 
sensible  and  philosophical  than  in  this  country. 
There  they  combine  daily  labor  with  daily 
study ;  and  the  result  is,  that  the  youth  of  Ger- 
many acquire  vigor  of  body  and  vigor  of  mind 
at  the  same  time.  From  youth  to  manhood 
they  are  taught  to  regard  labor  as  honorable, 
and  they  feel  that  it  is  so.  Hence  the  Germans 
are  characterized,  as  a  race,  by  the  possession 
of  an  iron  constitution,  and  by  a  mental  energy 
which  enables  them  to  meet  the  stern  realities 
of  life,  not  only  with  fortitude,  but  with  a  spirit 
that  never  yields  to  adversity.  No  country  has 
ever  produced  a  more  athletic  or  a  more  endur- 
ing race  than  Germany ;  nor  has  any  country 
produced  finer  scholars  in  every  branch  of  hu- 
man learning,  especially  in  philosophy  and  in 
classical  literature. 

But  in  this  country  it  may  be  difficult,  per- 
haps impracticable,  to  establish  an  educational 
system  of  this  character,  to  any  considerable 


102  NATURE  AND  CULTURE. 

extent,  for  the  reason  that  we  are,  for  the  most 
part,  an  agricultural  people,  who  do  not  concen- 
trate in  hamlets,  like  the  peasantry  of  Europe  ; 
but  prefer  to  occupy  many  acres,  and  to  dis- 
tribute ourselves  over  a  vast  expanse  of  terri- 
tory ;  and  what  is  more,  have  a  way  of  our  own 
in  all  we  do.  The  truth  is,  Young  America  does 
not  like  work.  He  prefers  fine  clothes  and  fast 
horses,  and  apes  the  man  before  he  is  a  man. 
And  yet  he  assumes  to  know  every  thing,  and 
to  do  every  thing  —  except  work.  These  pecu- 
liarities in  the  character  of  Young  America  seem 
to  have  been  generated  by  the  spirit  of  our  free 
institutions.  Whether  too  much  freedom,  or 
too  little  freedom,  is  the  greater  evil,  presents  a 
grave  question.  Whatever  may  be  the  cause, 
it  is  evident  that  we,  as  a  people,  are  degenerat- 
ing into  a  nation  of  speculators. 

Almost  every  man,  now-a-days,  seeks  to  ac- 
quire wealth  by  some  grand  speculation,  by  some 
other  means  than  by  the  honest  "  sweat  of  his 
brow."  Even  mental  acquisitions  are  often 
sought  as  a  means  of  speculation,  as  a  means  of 
living  without  work ;  and  hence  we  see  the 
learned  professions  crowded  to  overflowing.  Go 
into  the  main  streets  of  our  cities  and  villages, 
and  you  will  see  the  fronts  of  nearly  all  the 
buildings,  on  either  side  of  the  way,  shingled 
over  with  the  signs  of  lawyers  and  doctors,  who, 


EDUCATION  AND  ITS  ERRORS.  103 

in  the  estimation  of  the  populace,  lead  lives  of 
little  work  and  great  dignity.  Doubtless  a  for- 
eigner, with  such  an  exhibition  before  his  eyes, 
would  think  us  a  nation  of  lawyers  and  doctors, 
living  on  the  misfortunes  of  each  other;  nor 
would  his  conclusion  be  very  wide  of  the  mark. 

Nor  can  it  be  doubted  that  there  are  thousands 
in  the  clerical  profession,  who,  if  they  do  not 
subsist  on  each  other,  subsist  in  a  "  mysterious 
way  "  on  salaries  entirely  inadequate  to  their 
support.  It  would  seem  that  the  supply  of  pro- 
fessional men  in  this  country  exceeds  the  de- 
mand. For  this  there  may  be  no  remedy.  Yet 
a  step  in  the  right  direction  should  be  taken,  as 
it  seems  to  me,  by  advancing  the  standard  of 
professional  attainments  so  as  to  exclude  medi- 
ocrity and  shallow  pretence  from  registration 
on  the  "  roll  of  honor."  Wide  as  the  world  is, 
it  has  no  room  for  idlers  or  pretenders. 

This  over-supply  of  professional  men  not 
only  indicates  a  false  estimate  of  what  really 
constitutes  a  true  manhood,  but  clearly  proves 
that  in  American  education,  and  in  American 
public  sentiment,  there  are  prevalent  errors 
which  are  inconsistent  with  the  welfare  of  man, 
and  the  democratic  character  of  our  institutions. 
These  errors  can  be  corrected  only  through  the 
influence  of  a  well-directed  course  of  popular 
education.  But  nothing  is  more  difficult  than 


104  NATURE  AND   CULTURE. 

the  correction  of  popular  errors.  It  is  a  task 
the  reformer  often  attempts,  but  seldom  accom- 
plishes. In  most  cases  it  must  be  a  work  of 
time,  perhaps  of  ages.  In  every  school  there 
should  be  a  regular  system  of  physical,  as  well 
as  mental  exercises,  established.  Health  and 
strength  of  body  are  prerequisites  to  health  and 
strength  of  mind. 

In  most  of  our  colleges  and  boarding-schools 
the  physical  development  of  the  pupil  receives 
but  little  attention,  and,  consequently,  he  is  en- 
feebled in  body  if  not  in  mind,  and  is  then 
sent  out  into  the  world  to  endure  its  hardships 
without  the  physical  ability  to  take  care  of  him- 
self. All  this  is  radically  wrong,  and  calls 
loudly  for  reform.  An  exclusive  culture  of  the 
mental  powers  can  never  produce  a  strong  man 
or  woman.  This  fact  is  painfully  illustrated  in 
all  our  large  towns  and  cities.  The  kind  of 
education,  therefore,  which  attempts  to  refine 
our  young  men  and  young  ladies,  by  giving 
them  an  artificial  nature  too  delicate  to  endure 
soiled  hands,  will  never  do.  The  coarse  as  well 
as  the  fine  work  of  practical  life  must  be  done 
by  somebody.  Though  some  may  be  too  proud, 
none  are  too  good  to  work,  however  elevated 
may  be  their  social  position.  There  is  really 
nothing  in  our  daily  routine  of  duty  —  in  the 
coarse  work  of  the  world  —  from  which  an  en- 
lightened mind  should  shrink. 


EDUCATION  AND  ITS  ERRORS.  105 

It  is  lo  be  hoped  the  time  soon  will  come 
when  all  our  public  schools,  colleges,  and  uni- 
versities will  have  their  workshops  and  gardens, 
affording  the  necessary  facilities  for  instructing 
our  youth,  male  and  female,  in  some  industrial 
art  or  trade,  as  well  as  in  books,  and  thus  give 
them  a  relish  for  labor,  and  the  physical  ability 
to  endure  it. 

If  such  a  method  were  adopted,  the  women 
of  our  country  would  soon  become  practically 
fitted  to  compete  with  the  men  in  many,  if  not 
all  the  channels  of  a  business-life.  If  it  be  true 
that  the  women  have  been  deprived  of  their 
rights,  it  is  certainly  not  the  fault  of  the  men, 
but  a  fault  of  education,  —  a  radical  error  which 
should  be  remedied.  If  parents  will  not  apply 
the  remedy  in  the  early  education  of  their 
daughters,  then  there  is  no  relief.  Let  a  course 
of  education  make  it  as  fashionable  for  a  woman 
to  pursue  some  industrial  art  or  trade,  as  it  is  to 
be  a  lily  that  neither  "  toils  nor  spins,"  and  you 
would  soon  see  American  women  not  only  capa- 
ble of  taking  care  of  themselves,  but  more  gen- 
erally solicited  than  now  to  assume  the  endear- 
ing cares  of  their  appropriate  sphere. 

The  true  mission  of  woman  is  divine.  To  her 
belongs  the  post  of  honor,  —  that  of  a  wife  and 
mother,  —  a  position  which  she  prefers  to  occupy 
when  yielding  to  the  impulses  of  her  nature. 


106  NATURE  AND  CULTURE. 

In  educating  her,  therefore,  this  great  fact  should 
be  kept  in  view.  There  is  no  knowledge  she 
needs  more  than  a  correct  knowledge  of  human 
character.  This  she  can  only  acquire  Toy  coming 
in  contact  with  the  world  as  it  is,  in  childhood 
as  well  as  in  womanhood ;  in  the  public  school, 
as  well  as  in  the  social  circle.  The  old  Puri- 
tanic idea  that  the  sexes  must  be  schooled  sep- 
arately in  order  to  secure  them  from  exposure 
to  moral  dangers,  seems  to  me  not  only  erro- 
neous, but  absurd.  The  public  school,  when 
made  up  of  both  sexes,  is,  in  fact,  an  epitome  of 
the  world,  where  its  good  and  its  evil  are  seen, 
and  where  the  child  should  be  taught  to  accept 
the  good  and  reject  the  evil,  under  the  guidance 
of  correct  moral  principles.  It  is  in  a  pure  home- 
influence,  however,  that  a  primary  education 
should  begin.  Indeed,  mothers  must  take  the 
initiatory  step  in  giving  to  youthful  impulse  the 
right  direction. 

"Just  as  the  twig  is  bent,  the  tree  's  inclined." 

But  in  order  to  appreciate  the  full  import  of 
their  duties  and  responsibilities,  mothers  them- 
selves must  first  be  properly  educated.  Where, 
then,  is  this  all-important  work  to  be  com- 
menced ?  Where  can  it  be  commenced,  except 
in  our  common  schools  ?  It  is  in  the  common 
schools  only  that  the  masses  can  be  educated. 


EDUCATION  AND  ITS  ERRORS.  107 

It  is  to  the  common  schools  only  that  \ve  can 
look  for  the  proper  education  of  the  future 
fathers  and  mothers  of  the  land,  and  for  the 
correction  of  popular  errors.  It  is  to  this  class 
of  schools,  more  than  to  any  other,  that  we 
must  look  for  our  future  patriots  and  scholars, 
statesmen  and  philosophers,  and  last,  not  least, 
for  our  future  school-teachers. 

The  mission  of  a  school-teacher  is  truly  a 
mission  of  divine  import.  It  is  the  school-teacher 
who  moulds  the  youthful  mind,  and  converts  it 
into  a  casket  of  gems.  It  is  the  school-teacher 
who  gives  direction  to  budding  thought,  and 
awakens  in  the  soul  of  youth  the  slumbering 
fires  of  genius.  In  short,  it  is  the  school-teacher 
who  lays  the  broad  foundations  of  the  Republic, 
and  hews  the  pillars  that  sustain  our  civil  and 
religious  institutions.  The  school-teacher  should, 
therefore,  possess  the  qualifications  of  a  master- 
builder,  be  able  to  plan  his  work,  and  execute 
it  with  tact,  taste,  and  judgment.  He  should 
not  only  govern  himself,  but  should  be  able  to 
govern  his  pupils  without  seeming  to  govern. 
In  a  word,  he  should  be  a  model  character,  and 
regard  his  profession  as  one  of  honor ;  and  honor 
his  profession  by  elevating  it  to  the  dignity  of  a 
learned  profession.  He  should  remember  that 
he  is  placed  in  a  position  which  gives  him  a  vast 
influence,  —  an  influence  broad  as  the  ocean  of 


108  2TATURE  AND  CULTURE. 

time  —  an  influence  which  should  be  pure  in  its 
character,  and  as  refreshing  to  the  growth  of 
the  inner-life  as  the  dews  of  heaven  to  the  un- 
folding flowers. 

There  is  no  means,  perhaps,  more  efficient  in 
promoting  the  success  of  a  professional  teacher 
than  the  instruction  to  be  derived  from  insti- 
tutes, or  normal  schools,  in  which  the  art  of 
teaching  is  made  a  specialty.  This  class  of 
schools  should  be  made  a  part  of  our  school 
system.  At  least  every  Congressional  district, 
if  not  every  county,  should  have  its  normal 
school.  It  is  only  in  this  way  that  our  public 
schools  can  be  supplied  with  accomplished 
teachers,  and  be  made  worthy  of  being  called 
the  "people's  colleges." 

But  the  truth  is,  the  masses  are  not  as  yet 
more  than  half  awake  to  their  real  interests.  In 
the  cause  of  popular  education  the  wonder  is, 
that  educators  have  done  so  much,  and  legisla- 
tors so  little.  The  true  educator  is  a  philan- 
thropist. He  sees  and  feels  that  public  senti- 
ment needs  to  be  enlightened  and  liberalized, 
before  it  will  yield  its  sanction  to  such  a  system 
of  public  schools  as  ought  to  be  established. 

In  perfecting  our  present  system,  we  need  a 
National  Bureau  of  Education,  to  act  as  a  cen- 
tral power  in  representing,  if  not  in  controlling, 
the  general  educational  interests  of  the  entire 


EDUCATION  AND  ITS  ERRORS.  109 

country.  A  department  of  this  kind,  it  is  be- 
lieved, would  give  efficiency  and  equality  to  all 
public  schools,  and  thus  greatly  elevate  their 
general  character.  And  with  this  view  Con- 
gress should  be  required  by  the  Constitution,  not 
only  to  establish,  but  support  in  each  of  the 
States  at  least  one  national  college  ;  and  these 
colleges  should  constitute  a  national  univer- 
sity, in  which  the  crowning  studies  should 
be  natural  science,  military  science,  and  the 
science  of  government. 

It  is  doubtless  true  that  educators  have  al- 
ready become  a  power  in  the  land.  Of  this  fact 
they  seem  to  be  aware,  and  the  danger  is  that 
their  influence  may  be  subordinated  to  the  uses 
of  political  aspirants.  Every  educator  has  a 
right,  of  course,  to  express  his  own  individual 
opinions ;  but  he  certainly  has  not  the  right  to 
employ  educational  instrumentalities  to  promote 
the  interests  of  a  selfish  partisanship,  either  in 
State  or  Church.  Whenever  it  is  attempted 
to  sow  "  tares  "  of  this  kind  among  the  wheat, 
it  is  to  be  hoped  that  an  indignant  public  senti- 
ment will  eradicate  them  with  an  unsparing 
hand. 

It  is  always  pleasant  to  recall  our  early  school- 
days, with  their  many  delightful  and  refreshing 
memories,  which  still  linger  about  the  old 
schoolhouse  where  we  received  our  elemen- 


110  NATURE  AND  CULTURE. 

tary  education  —  the  dear  old  schoolhouse  by  the 
wayside,  with  its  noisy  group,  its  sunny  spots, 
and  its  hours  of  fun  and  frolic,  and  especially 
its  birchen  sceptre,  which  so  often  taught  us 
the  "  doctrine  of  passive  obedience."  It  is  un- 
questionably true  that  every  schoolhouse,  to 
some  extent  at  least,  reflects  its  character  in  the 
character  of  its  pupils.  Hence  we  should  not 
only  look  to  the  character  of  our  schools,  but 
should  build  our  schoolhouses  in  a  neat,  if  not 
imposing  style  ;  for  they,  though  silent,  are  elo- 
quent teachers,  whose  influence  should  create 
such  impressions  as  will  tend  to  refine  the  tastes 
and  elevate  the  aspirations  of  the  youthful 
mind. 

But  no  system  of  education  which  is  con- 
tracted, or  revolves  in  a  circle,  can  fully  meet 
the  exigencies  of  the  mind,  or  satisfy  the  de- 
mands of  the  age.  In  most  American  colleges, 
as  well  as  in  the  universities  of  Europe,  a  defi- 
nite course  of  study  is  prescribed,  and  made  a 
fixed  fact  —  a  kind  of  Procrustean  bed  which 
every  lad  is  either  stretched  or  abridged  to  fit ; 
and  this  is  done,  as  scholastics  tell  us,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  disciplining  the  mind.  No  two  persons 
were  ever  created  to  think,  act,  or  look  alike,  in 
in  every  respect ;  nor  can  an  educational  system 
be  prescribed  by  square  and  compass  which 
will  be  alike  adapted  to  all  minds.  In  iny  hum- 


EDUCATION  AND  ITS  ERRORS.  Ill 

ble  judgment,  those  studies  best  discipline  the 
mind  which  tend  most  to  enlarge  and  liberalize 
it,  and  which  are  essentially  concordant  with 
its  native  powers  and  capacities.  The  course  of 
education,  therefore,  which  will  best  develop 
the  peculiar  genius,  talent,  or  marked  prefer- 
ence of  the  pupil,  should  be  adopted,  so  far 
as  practicable.  If  a  young  man,  for  instance, 
exhibits  a  native  talent  or  taste  for  music, 
painting,  mechanics,  law,  medicine,  theology, 
agriculture,  or  commerce,  his  education  should 
take  the  direction  indicated.  If  this  plan  were 
p.ursued  in  all  our  colleges  and  other  schools  of  a 
high  order,  we  should  soon  see  —  instead  of 
here  and  there  a  star  —  a  galaxy  of  brilliant 
men  and  women  in  the  sky  of  our  national 
renown,  whose  excellence  in  their  several  spe- 
cialties would  challenge  the  admiration  of  man- 
kind. 

The  truth  is,  our  modern  colleges  are  not 
modern  enough.  They  look  to  the  ancients  for 
wisdom,  instead  of  seeking  it  from  Nature  and 
the  revelations  of  modern  science.  In  a  word, 
the  dead  languages  are  studied  too  much ;  the 
living,  too  little.  Next  to  mathematics,  the 
natural  sciences  should  take  the  preference.  No 
man  is  thoroughly  educated,  who  is  not  thor- 
oughly instructed  in  these  sciences,  especially  in 
chemistry  and  geology.  Every  farmer  should 


112  NATURE  AND  CULTURE. 

be  familiar  with  agricultural  chemistry,  and  be 
able  to  apply  its  principles.  It  is  the  utility, 
the  practical  good  to  be  derived  from  an  educa- 
tion, that  gives  to  it  value  and  solidity. 

It  is  practical,  not  fanciful  knowledge,  which 
the  masses  need.  In  order  to  secure  their  eleva- 
tion and  social  equality,  every  State  in  the 
Union  should  be  required  to  maintain  an  effi- 
cient system  of  common  schools,  accessible  to  all 
classes  of  youth,  and  made  "  good  enough  for 
the  richest,  and  cheap  enough  for  the  poorest." 
In  order  to  effect  this,  the  system  should  recog- 
nize the  theory  as  an  equitable  principle,  that 
the  property  of  the  State  is  bound  to  educate 
the  youth  of  the  State.  This  principle  is  cer- 
tainly a  just  one,  since  the  man  of  property, 
though  he  have  no  children,  is  as  much  bene- 
fited by  its  application  as  the  man  who  has 
children,  but  no  property ;  for  the  reason,  that 
the  security  of  property,  as  well  as  the  rights  of 
persons,  and  the  stability  of  the  Republic,  must 
ever  depend  on  the  degree  of  intelligence  pos- 
sessed by  the  people. 

In  fact,  each  State  should  be  regarded  as  one 
great  school-district,  and  all  its  resident  youth 
as  the  children  of  the  State,  for  whose  common 
education  every  citizen,  having  taxable  prop- 
erty, is  bound  to  contribute  his  proportionate 
share.  In  this  way  every  child  can  be  edu- 


EDUCATION  AND  ITS  ERRORS.  113 

cated,  and  elevated  to  the  social  position  of  a 
true  manhood ;  and  it  is  only  in  this  way  that 
a  work  of  such  magnitude  can  be  accomplished. 
In  every  point  of  view,  it  is  much  wiser  to  edu- 
cate than  to  punish,  much  wiser  to  build 
schoolhouses  than  prisons,  much  wiser  to  sus- 
tain school  libraries  than  billiard-tables. 

It  is  a  matter  of  congratulation,  however, 
that  there  is  now  much  more  confidence  placed 
in  the  theory  of  common  schools  than  in  former 
years.  In  most  of  the  States  prejudice  has 
yielded  to  enlightened  sentiment,  and  the 
"people's  colleges"  have  come  to  be  regarded 
as  the  most  useful  and  influential  institutions  in 
the  land.  All  should  be  done  that  can  be,  to 
render  these  schools  pleasant  and  attractive. 
The  schoolhouse  should  be  built  not  only  in 
good  taste,  but  its  surroundings  should  be  made 
as  cheerful  and  inviting  as  possible  by  planting 
about  it  ornamental  trees,  shrubs,  and  flowers. 
Its  interior  walls  should  be  enriched  with  ap- 
propriate maps  and  charts,  historical  paintings, 
and  portraits  of  renowned  men  and  women.  In 
addition  to  this,  every  school  should  be  supplied 
with  an  ample  apparatus,  embracing  specimen 
weights  and  measures,  mathematical  figures  in 
wood,  together  with  globes  and  a  planetarium, 
not  omitting  a  cabinet  of  the  leading  minerals, 
metals,  and  coins.  Their  uses  and  character- 

8 


114  NATURE  AND  CULTURE. 

istics  should  be  explained  and  illustrated  by 
the  teacher  in  a  simple  style  of  language,  and  in 
the  presence  of  the  entire  school,  at  least  once 
or  twice  a  week. 

Familiar  exercises  of  this  kind  would  deeply 
interest  the  pupils,  and  impart  to  their  minds  a 
degree  of  valuable  knowledge  which  they  would 
not  be  likely  to  obtain  in  any  other  way,  and 
which  might  awaken,  perhaps,  some  unconscious 
genius,  who  would,  in  after  life,  so  develop  his 
powers  as  to  advance  the  interests  of  science, 
and  take  his  place  among  her  proudest  masters. 
In  nearly  every  instance  our  truly  great  men 
have  arisen  from  an  obscure  origin. 

The  time  has  already  arrived,  I  am  inclined 
to  think,  when  there  should  be  added  to  the 
usual  course  of  studies  pursued  in  our  colleges, 
academies,  and  high  schools,  a  systematic  train- 
ing in  military  science  and  discipline,  as  a 
means  not  only  of  physical  culture,  but  as  an 
easy  method  of  fitting  our  young  men  to  be- 
come practical  soldiers  and  defenders  of  the 
Republic.  We,  as  a  people,  in  consequence  of 
the  late  civil  war  in  which  we  have  been  in- 
volved, are  evidently  undergoing  a  transition, 
which  has  already  had  the  effect  to  change,  in 
a  good  degree,  our  national  traits  of  character. 
If  we  would  have  invincible  men,  we  must, 
like  the  ancient  Greeks,  accustom  our  sons  to 


EDUCATION  AND  ITS  ERRORS.  115 

hardships  and  manly  exercises,  give  them 
muscle  as  well  as  mind,  teach  them  to  love 
and  defend  their  country,  and,  if  need  be,  to 
die  for  it,  —  die  on  the  battle-field  — 

"  Where  gory  sabres  rise  and  fall, 
Like  shoots  of  flame  on  midnight's  pall !  " 

The  attempt  which  we  are  making  in  our 
public  schools  to  educate  our  children  in  the 
shortest  possible  time,  is  a  grave  error.  We 
ought  rather  to  make  "haste  slowly,"  if  we 
would  do  the  work  well.  A  work  of  this  char- 
acter is  one  which  requires  patience  and  perse- 
verance. There  is  no  short  way  to  knowledge, 
no  patent  right  that  can  produce  it  to  order. 
It  can  only  be  obtained  by  study,  persevering 
study.  It  is  all-important,  therefore,  that  we 
should  furnish  our  children  with  such  elemen- 
tary books  as  are  best  adapted  to  their  capaci- 
ties and  needs,  and  with  such  teachers  as  are 
qualified  to  teach  them  lessons  contained,  not 
only  inside  of  books,  but  outside  of  books,  — 
lessons  which  abound  everywhere,  both  in  the 
natural  and  in  the  moral  world.  We  should 
also  furnish  them  with  school  libraries  composed 
of  standard  works,  and  including  the  best  cur- 
rent literature  of  the  day.  A  library  of  this 
character  should  be  established  in  every  school- 
district,  and  be  made  accessible  to  every  citizen. 


116  NATURE  AND   CULTURE. 

In  this  way,  and  only  in  this  way,  can  the 
masses  be  supplied  with  the  mental  food  which 
they  so  much  need,  and  which  is  indispensable 
to  their  moral  and  intellectual  elevation.  No 
matter  what  the  cost,  public  libraries  always 
pay  a  liberal  dividend  in  the  shape  of  mental 
and  moral  power,  if  not  in  dollars  and  cents. 
No  matter  what  dangers  may  threaten  our  free 
institutions,  depend  upon  it,  a  reading  people 
will  take  care  of  themselves. 

The  ancients  built  temples  to  their  gods.  We 
build  schoolhouses  for  our  children.  This  one 
fact  exhibits,  perhaps,  more  clearly  than  any 
other,  the  distinctive  character  which  marks  the 
career  of  ancient  and  modern  civilization,  and 
indicates  the  great  change  which  has  been 
wrought  in  the  progress  of  ages  by  the  law  of 
progress.  In  the  Northern  States  we  may  justly 
regard  our  numerous  schoolhouses  and  churches 
as  the  mirrors,  not  only  of  moral  character,  but 
as  the  safeguards  of  the  Republic.  If  the  South- 
ern jStates  had  adopted  a  regular  system  of 
common  schools  contemporaneously  with  the 
Northern  States,  the  doctrine  of  secession  would 
never  have  disturbed  the  peace  and  harmony  of 
the  Union. 

In  the  pursuit  of  knowledge,  it  is  quite  ab- 
surd to  suppose  that  all  high  attainment  in  art, 
hi  literature,  and  in  science,  must,  of  necessity, 


EDUCATION  AND  ITS  ERRORS.  117 

be  confined  to  the  "  learned  professions,"  as 
they  are  called  by  way  of  pre-eminence.  It 
does  not  matter  what  a  man  professes  to  know, 
but  the  question  is,  what  does  he  know,  com- 
pared with  what  he  might  know  ?  There  should 
never  be  such  a  monopoly  allowed  to  exist,  as  a 
monopoly  of  knowledge.  The  learned  profes- 
sions have  nothing  in  them  sacred,  —  no  forbid- 
den fruit,  —  nothing  more  than  what  everybody 
may  know  who  chooses.  Nor  can  there  be  any 
good  reason  why  every  employment  in  the  various 
departments  of  human  industry — every  trade, 
every  mechanic  art  —  should  not  be  regarded  as 
a  learned  profession,  and  be  made  a  learned  pro- 
fession, in  which  brains  as  well  as  hands  should 
co-operate  in  achieving  success,  and  in  solving 
new  problems. 

There  is  food  for  thought  in  every  human 
pursuit.  In  order  to  be  successful,  in  order  'to 
achieve  high  aims,  the  laboring  man  must  not 
only  think,  but  be  capable  of  thinking  profoundly. 
Indeed,  every  man  may  live  like  a  philosopher, 
and  be  a  philosopher,  if  he  will.  But  no  man 
can  be  a  true  philosopher  who  is  not  both  a 
practical  worker  and  a  practical  thinker.  There 
is  nothing  the  world  needs  more  than  workers 
and  thinkers  to  make  it  a  paradise.  The  masses 
are  workers,  and,  if  educated,  would  become 
thinkers.  It  is  only  once  or  twice  in  a  century, 


118  NATURE  AND  CULTURE. 

it  is  said,  that  "  God  lets  loose  upon  the  earth  a 
great  thinker."  Of  the  past,  this  may  be  true  ; 
but  not  of  the  present.  We  have  scores  of  men 
now  living  who  are  greater  thinkers  than  Plato, 
Newton,  or  Franklin,  because  modern  science 
has  introduced  them  into  broader  Jftelds  of 
thought.  The  chemists,  geologists,  inventors, 
and  discoverers  of  the  present  day  have  never 
been  excelled  as  profound  thinkers.  Ours  is 
literally  an  age  of  philosophers. 

Truth,  though  eternal,  is  never  stationary; 
nor  will  the  law  of  progress  ever  reach  a  stand- 
point. There  is  always  something  to  be  done ; 
some  vacuum  to  be  filled.  It  is  said  by  philoso- 
phers that  Nature  abhors  a  vacuum.  I  do  not 
doubt  it,  especially  if  it  be  a  vacuum  in  the 
human  head.  It  is  pretty  certain  that  the  youth- 
ful head,  if  not  filled  with  sense  at  the  proper 
time,  will  soon  be  filled  with  nonsense.  Neither 
errors  of  the  head,  nor  errors  of  the  heart,  can 
be  easily  eradicated,  when  once  implanted. 
The  moral  nature  of  the  child  may  be  moulded 
at  will ;  but  the  cherished  opinions  of  age  can 
seldom,  if  ever,  be  either  reversed  or  essentially 
modified.  In  the  great  battle  of  life  our  success 
as  individuals  must  depend  on  the  kind  of 
armor  in  which  we  are  clad,  and  the  kind  of 
weapons  with  which  we  are  supplied.  For  effect- 
ive service  there  is  nothing  which  can  be 


EDUCATION  AND  ITS  ERRORS.  119 

brought  into  the  field  so  formidable  or  so 
irresistible  as  the  artillery  of  logic.  Intellect 
is  always  sure  of  becoming  the  ultimate  victor. 
We  read  of  giants  in  the  chronicles  of  the  early 
ages,  —  physical  giants,  who  could  overthrow  the 
pillars  of  the  proudest  temples,  and  bear  off 
mountains  upon  their  shoulders  ;  yet,  of  what 
value  to  the  world  were  their  marvellous  ex- 
ploits, if  really  true,  compared  with  the  achieve- 
ments of  those  intellectual  giants  who  have 
appeared  at  different  epochs,  and  taught  man- 
kind the  most  useful  lessons  in  the  arts,  in 
the  sciences,  and  in  philosophy  ?  And  here  let 
me  say  to  the  young  aspirant  for  worldly  hon- 
ors, that  if  he  would  achieve  high  aims,  he  must 
not  only  aim  high,  but  have  faith  in  himself  as 
well  as  in  a  divine  Providence.  Indeed,  every 
man,  however  humble,  may  become  great  in  his 
vocation,  if  he  will.  Yet  no  man  can  become 
truly  great  who  is  not  truly  good. 

So  far  as  human  perfection  can  be  defined,  it 
consists  in  the  purity  and  sublimity  of  moral 
action,  —  a  perfection  which  may  be  approached, 
if  not  reached,  by  all  who  are  so  disposed.  How 
truly  has  it  been  said  that  we  are  never  too  old 
or  too  wise  to  learn.  Nor  is  any  man  so  igno- 
rant but  he  may  teach  a  philosopher  some- 
thing. 

No  matter  how  conservative  we  may  be   in 


120  NATURE  AND   CULTURE. 

our  creeds  and  opinions,  the  world  will  continue 
to  move  onward ;  nor  can  it  stand  still  if  it  would. 
The  time  is  at  hand  when  errors  in  creed,  as 
well  as  in  education,  to  which  we  cling,  will  not 
only  be  exposed,  but  exploded.  However  hope- 
less the  condition  of  the  masses  may  seem,  they 
are  already  demanding  more  light,  and  only 
await  an  opportunity  to  proclaim  their  emanci- 
pation from  mental  thraldom. 

The  statistics  relating  to  the  numbers  of  man- 
kind, and  to  the  frail  tenure  of  human  life, 
convey  lessons  which  ought  not  to  be  disre- 
garded in  the  estimate  we  make  of  what  man 
can  do  to  elevate  himself.  Strange  as  it  may 
seem,  it  is  a  fact  pretty  well  ascertained,  that 
the  entire  population  of  the  globe  neither  in- 
creases nor  diminishes,  but  remains  essentially 
the  same,  —  about  one  thousand  millions.  And 
yet  the  population  of  the  earth  is  continually 
undergoing  changes  from  the  operation  of 
local  causes,  increasing  here,  and  diminishing 
there,  as  the  ages  advance.  The  law  involved 
seems  based  on  the  principle  of  a  just  compen- 
sation for  all  diminution.  In  other  words,  the 
earth  has  a  limited  capacity  ;  and,  like  a  cup 
when  filled,  can  hold  no  more,  yet  always  re- 
mains full. 

When  we  consider  the  fact  that  one-fourth  of 
mankind  die  before  reaching  seven   years    of 


EDUCATION  AND  ITS  ERRORS.  121 

age  ;  one-half  before  reaching  seventeen  years  ; 
and  that  sixty  persons  die  every  minute,  we  are 
struck  with  astonishment,  and  are  naturally  led 
to  inquire  into  the  reasons.  The  causes  which 
abridge  life  may,  for  the  most  part,  be  attributed 
to  popular  ignorance,  or  disregard  of  physical 
law,  —  either  in  ancestor,  parent,  or  child. 
Nothing  can  be  truer  than  the  fact  that  the 
"  sins  of  the  fathers  are  visited  upon  their 
children  unto  the  third  and  fourth  generation," 
and  even  to  indefinite  generations.  It  is  indeed 
a  fearful  inheritance,  when  life  comes  to  us 
tainted  with  constitutional  disease.  For  this 
there  seems  to  be  no  remedy,  except  in  the 
adoption  of  such  a  popular  system  of  education 
as  will  diffuse  a  practical  knowledge  of  the  laws 
of  health. 

It  may  be  safely  asserted  that  most  people, 
especially  in  America,  where  food  is  abundant 
and  the  style  of  living  luxurious,  "  dig  their  own 
graves  with  their  teeth."  Americans,  as  we  all 
know,  are  disposed  to  live  fast ;  and,  of  course, 
die  prematurely.  In  short,  we  are  a  sanguine, 
impatient  people  ;  have  morbid  appetites  ;  crave 
rich  viands  ;  seek  wealth  and  office  ;  and  care  for 
little  else.  In  our  successes  we  commit  excesses. 
In  the  pure  elixir  of  life  we  infuse  drops  of 
poison.  Yet  Nature  proffers  us  the  gift  of  long 
life,  and  waits  our  acceptance  with  a  patient 


122  NATURE  AND  CULTURE. 

spirit.  Though  extreme  longevity  may  not  be 
desirable,  yet  many  more  than  now  do,  might 
attain  to  the  dignity  of  centenarians,  if  they 
would  but  live  in  obedience  to  physical  law. 

In  the  elements  of  his  physical  nature,  man  is 
truly  "  of  the  earth  earthy."  Chemists  say 
that  a  man  of  ordinary  size  is  composed  of  forty 
pounds  solid  matter  and  five  buckets  of  water, 
all  of  which  may  be  converted  into  gas.  If 
this  be  so,  it  sufficiently  accounts  for  the  lead- 
ing characteristic  of  some  of  our  modern  politi- 
cians. However  this  may  be,  man  is  a  delicate 
piece  of  mechanism,  a  combination  of  divine 
inventions.  For  example,  his  eye  is  a  telescope, 
which  penetrates  the  mysteries  of  the  stars ; 
his  ear  is  a  drum,  which  repeats  every  sound  in 
nature ;  his  heart  a  timepiece,  which  marks,  with 
measured  beat,  the  fleeting  moments  of  his  life  ; 
his  vocal  organs  a  harp  with  a  thousand  strings, 
which  is  capable  of  uttering  the  divinest  music. 

And  yet  man,  in  his  moral  nature,  though 
created  but  "  a  little  lower  than  the  angels,"  is 
a  profound  puzzle.  He  advances  many  theories, 
questions  even  divine  truth,  yet  believes  in 
absurdities.  Nor  need  we  marvel  at  this,  per- 
haps, when  we  recall  the  fact  that  mankind 
speak  more  than  three  thousand  different  lan- 
guages, and  profess  more  than  one  thousand  dif- 
ferent religions. 


EDUCATION  AND  ITS  ERRORS.  123 

Whether  regarded  as  a  common  brotherhood, 
or  as  composed  of  distinct  races,  it  is  evident 
that  the  human  family  have  made  rapid  advance- 
ment in  the  amelioration  of  their  condition, 
during  the  last  century,  through  the  instrumen- 
talities of  a  world-wide  commercial  intercourse, 
and  the  consequent  diffusion  of  nobler  incen- 
tives to  action.  Yet  of  the  one  thousand  mil- 
lions that  compose  the  great  family  of  man, 
more  than  six  hundred  millions  are  still  groping 
their  way  in  the  darkness  of  a  moral  midnight, 
awaiting  the  advent  of  the  schoolmaster  and  the 
promulgation  of  a  purer  and  holier  faith.  Even 
in  Christian  countries,  especially  in  the  South 
American  States,  and  in  many  parts  of  Europe, 
the  masses  are  almost  universally  illiterate  and 
superstitious,  and  have  so  long  been  accustomed 
to  oppression  that  they  have  become  quite  indif- 
ferent, if  not  insensible,  to  their  natural  rights ; 
nor  dare  they,  if  they  would,  assert  their  man- 
hood. 

In  Italy,  the  land  of  art  and  of  beauty,  the 
proportion  of  those  who  can  read  is  from  twenty 
to  thirty  in  a  hundred,  while  among  the  inhabit- 
ants of  districts  within  a  circle  of  thirty  miles 
around  Rome,  there  is  not  one  in  a  hundred 
who  can  read.  Not  only  in  these  countries,  but 
in  more  than  half  the  globe,  the  masses  submit 
to  oppression,  because  it  is  the  policy  of  their 


124  NATURE  AND   CULTURE. 

oppressors  to  hold  them,  spell  bound,  in  ignor- 
ance. If  they  are  ever  elevated  to  the  social 
and  political  rank  which  the  God  of  nature 
designed  them  to  occupy,  it  must  be  done  by 
the  schoolmaster,  armed  with  his  text-books,  and 
sustained  by  the  efforts  of  an  enlightened  Chris- 
tian philanthropy.  For  this  ultimate  object 
God  works,  and  man  should  work. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  but  natural  scenery,  as 
well  as  climate,  exercises  a  decided  influence  in 
the  formation  of  national  character.  Whether 
we  advert  to  Palestine,  Switzerland,  or  New 
England,  it  is  easy  to  discover  that  the  moun- 
tains of  these  countries  have,  by  their  silent 
eloquence,  inspired  the  masses  of  the  people,  not 
only  with  reverence,  but  with  a  love  of  free- 
dom. In.  the  sublimity  of  the  cloud-capped 
mountains,  they  seem  to  recognize  a  divine 
presence  which  has  taught  them  to  look  sky- 
ward, and  to  feel  that  they  are  destined  to 
ascend  in  the  scale  of  existence  ;  while  in  low 
and  level  countries,  especially  on  the  plains  of 
Russia  and  Asia,  the  inhabitants  take  horizontal 
views  of  things,  and  consequently  submit  to 
oppression,  and  never  dare,  like  mountain-bred 
men,  to  break  their  fetters  or  question  the  de- 
crees of  fate. 

The  ancient  inhabitants  of  Palestine,  as  every- 
body knows,  were  not  only  brave  in  warfare, 


EDUCATION  AND  ITS  ERRORS.  125 

but  were  distinguished  above  all  other  nations 
as  a  reverential  and  God-fearing  people.  Their 
form  of  government  was  essentially  theocratic. 
In  the  earthquake  they  recognized  the  footsteps 
of  God ;  in  the  solemn  thunder  they  heard  his 
voice  ;  in  the  lightning's  flash  they  saw  an  ex- 
pression of  his  anger;  in  the  rainbow  they 
beheld  a  token  of  his  promise  ;  in  a  word,  they 
were  a  peculiar  people,  who  have,  in  the  record 
of  their  experiences,  transmitted  to  mankind  a 
sacred  inheritance. 

Switzerland  is  emphaticalty  a  land  of  moun- 
tains and  of  heroes.  Almost  every  hill  and 
vale  within  her  borders  has  its  consecrated 
spots  and  its  sanctified  memories.  In  the 
recesses  of  her  mountains  the  love  of  freedom 
ever  burns  with  a  pure  and  a  holy  flame,  because 
it  is  a  love  which  was  born  of  the  mountains. 

In  New  England  it  is  equally  apparent  that 
the  silent  grandeur  of  her  mountains  contributes 
to  inspire  her  inhabitants  with  lofty  sentiments, 
and  with  a  love  of  civil  and  religious  liberty, —  a 
love  which  can  never  be  subjected  to  the  reign 
of  oppression,  nor  be  misdirected  in  its  action, 
except  by  its  own  enthusiasm. 

It  often  happens  that  the  inhabitants  who 
occupy  distinct  portions  of  a  common  country 
differ  as  widely  in  their  sentiments  as  in  their 
manners  and  customs.  Especially  is  this  true 


126  NATURE  AND  CULTURE. 

of  the  United  States,  where  it  is  easy  to  distin- 
guish the  Eastern,  Western,  and  Southern  peo- 
ple from  each  other.  It  maybe  natural  causes, 
or  it  may  be  local  interests,  that  have  created 
these  differences,  and  marked  the  people  of 
each  region  with  the  peculiar  traits  of  character 
which  give  them  character. 

The  New  Englanders  are  generally  character- 
ized as  sedate,  formal,  and  puritanical ;  guessing 
at  every  thing,  yet  pretty  shrewd  at  guessing. 
They  possess  genius,  are  prolific  in  inventions, 
and  scrupulous  in  matters  of  faith.  In  discuss- 
ing theological  questions,  they  split  hairs  ;  in 
making  a  bargain,  they  conclude  to  split  the 
difference.  In  all  things  they  are  quick  to  see 
advantages,  and  apt  to  take  advantages.  In 
whatever  they  undertake,  they  look  ahead  and 
go  ahead.  In  every  sixpence  which  falls  within 
their  grasp,  they  recognize  an  element  of  power 
which  "  leads  on  to  fortune  ; "  and  when  they 
have  acquired  a  fortune,  they  are  pretty  sure  to 
keep  it.  And,  as  Halleck,  the  poet,  says,  — 

"  They  love  their  land  because  it  is  their  own, 
And  scorn  to  give  aught  other  reason  why; 
Would  shake  hands  with  a  king  upon  his  throne, 

And  think  it  kindness  to  his  majesty; 
A  stubborn  race,  fearing  and  flattering  none. 

Such  are  they  nurtured,  such  they  live  and  die; 
All,  but  a  few  apostates,  who  are  meddling 
With  merchandise,  pounds,  shillings,  pence,  and  ped- 
dling!" 


EDUCATION  AND  ITS  ERRORS.  127 

In  the  Western  States,  where  Nature  educates 
men  on  a  liberal  scale,  by  giving  them  broad 
rivers,  broad  lakes,  and  broad  prairies,  we  find 
a  people  characterized  by  broad  and  liberal 
views  of  things,  large-heartedness,  frank  man- 
ners, generous  sympathies  ;  a  philanthropy 
which  regards  all  mankind  as  a  brotherhood, 
and  a  public  sentiment  which  rebukes  intoler- 
ance. In  truth,  Western  men  despise  "little 
things  "  and  devise  "  liberal  things,"  and  would 
sooner  sacrifice  their  lives  than  yield  obedience 
to  the  mandates  of  either  political  or  ecclesiasti- 
cal oppression. 

In  the  Southern  States  Nature  has  not,  as  yet, 
effected  much  in  the  exercise  of  her  educational 
influences.  In  whatever  she  has  attempted  in 
this  direction  she  seems  to  have  been  overruled 
by  circumstances :  by  the  difference  in  races,  and 
by  the  prejudices  of  caste.  Though  the  South 
has  produced  a  few  intellectual  men  of  a  high 
order,  she  has  contributed,  comparatively,  but 
little  either  to  science  or  to  standard  literature. 
Yet  it  must  be  conceded  that  the  South  has 
always  been  justly  distinguished  for  her  hospi- 
tality ;  and  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  she  will  yet 
become  as  distinguished  for  her  loyalty  and  for 
the  triumphs  of  a  true  civilization,  as  for  her 
rash  attempt  to  dissever  the  Union. 

Whatever  human  institutions  may  achieve,  it 


128  NATURE  AND  CULTURE. 

is  certain  that  Nature,  in  the  manifest  wisdom 
of  her  works,  contributes  largely  to  the  educa- 
tion of  all  classes  of  men  in  all  countries.  In 
her  great  school,  even  the  uncivilized  man  not 
unfrequently  becomes  a  profound  philosopher. 
The  coinage  of  her  mint  has  the  true  ring  in  it, 
and  passes  current  everywhere.  Her  light  is 
the  light  of  the  world,  yet  the  masses  are  too 
blind,  or  rather  too  ignorant,  to  see  it.  With- 
out intending  the  least  disrespect  to  the  one 
thousand  different  theologies  which  distract 
mankind,  it  may  be  asserted  that  the  Book  of 
Nature  is,  in  itself,  a  divine  revelation,  which 
has  been  divided  by  her  own  hand  into  chapter 
and  verse,  and  may  be  read  in  the  alphabet  of 
the  flowers,  in  the  rocks  of  the  hills,  and  in  the 
stars.  In  its  language  it  is  not  only  beautiful, 
but  every  word  is  suggestive ;  in  its  doctrines 
it  is  pure  and  truthful ;  in  its  wide  range  of 
thought  it  treats  principally  of  life,  and  of  the 
conditions  of  life,  and  assures  us  that  the  silent 
process  of  creation  —  of  eternal  change  —  still 
goes  on,  now  as  ever;  and  that  every  particle 
of  matter  in  the  universe  is  constantly  active, 
achieving  something. 

In  a  philosophical  sense,  there  is  nothing  dead 
that  does  not  live.  Matter  combines,  dissolves, 
and  re-combines.  New  forms  of  life,  and  new 
conditions  of  life,  appear  and  disappear.  The 


EDUCATION  AND  ITS  ERRORS.  129 

very  dust  under  our  feet  has  lived  and  breathed, 
and  will  live  again.  Nature  waits  to  be  gra- 
cious, and  is  ever  ready  to  reveal  her  mysteries 
as  fast  as  man  can  comprehend  them.  And 
though  she  speaks  with  a  silent  lip,  she  invites 
all  to  share  her  bounties.  Her  wealth  is  infinite. 

In  every  star,  in  every  flower,  in  every  blade 
of  grass,  in  every  grain  of  sand,  in  every  thing 
visible  and  invisible,  there  is  life,  light,  and 
beauty.  In  every  thing  there  is  power.  We 
cannot  look  at  a  grain  of  sand,  insignificant  as 
it  may  seem,  without  seeing  in  its  composition 
the  material  which  enables  us  to  read  the  golden 
record  of  the  heavens.  In  the  falling  raindrop, 
when  converted  into  steam,  we  recognize  the 
existence  of  a  power  which  has  revolutionized 
the  world.  In  the  kiss  of  the  sunbeam  we  dis- 
cover a  magical  influence  which  tints  the  flower, 
gives  color  to  every  thing  in  Nature,  and  by  its 
impress  presents  us  with  an  exact  and  lifelike 
transcript  of  ourselves  and  of  our  friends.  In 
the  lightning's  flash  we  have  a  language  in 
which  we  can  converse  with  our  friends,  three 
thousand  miles  away,  at  any  moment  we  please. 

When  we  consider  what  has  been  achieved  in 
the  way  of  scientific  discovery  during  the  last 
half  century,  who  can  tell  what  may  not  be 
achieved  in  the  next  century,  —  in  the  next  ten 
centuries,  —  when  the  great  mysteries  of  Nature 


130  NATURE  AND  CULTURE. 

shall  be  more  fully  revealed,  and  when  new 
sciences,  now  unknown,  shall  disclose  new  prin- 
ciples, new  forces,  and  still  subtler  agencies  ? 

In  her  desire  to  perfect  the  manhood  of  man, 
Nature  invokes  interpreters  —  unborn  interpre- 
ters—  who,  though  far  away  in  the  distance, 
will  yet  come,  and,  when  they  do  come,  will 
interpret  in  accordance  with  truth  the  mystical 
language  in  which  her  undiscovered  secrets  are 
written,  and  thus  extend  the  empire  of  thought 
until  it  becomes  infinite,  —  an  empire  in  which 
the  human  soul,  still  rising  in  the  scale  of  intel- 
ligence, will  acquire  divine  powers,  and  finally 
be  transformed  into  a  permanent  crystallization 
of  the  good,  the  true,  and  the  beautiful. 


AIEEICA  AND  HER  FUTURE. 


AMERICA  AND  HER  FUTURE. 

THERE  is  something  in  the  very  name  of 
America,  when  applied  to  the  United  States, 
which  carries  with  it  an  inspiring  influence,  —  an 
ideal  of  freedom  and  of  true  manhood.  In 
referring  to  the  incidents  of  her  origin,  in  con- 
nection with  the  events  of  her  subsequent 
career,  it  would  seem  that  America  is  none  other 
than  a  "  child  of  destiny." 

She  was  born  amid  the  storms  of  a  revolu- 
tion, and  commenced,  at  birth,  to  work  out  the 
great  problems  of  civil  and  religious  liberty. 
She  has  an  abiding  faith  in  herself,  and  believes 
it  to  be  her  mission  to  originate  new  views  and 
discover  new  principles,  as  well  as  try  new 
experiments  in  the  science  of  popular  govern- 
ment. The  greatest  peculiarity  in  her  character 
is,  that  her  past  cannot  be  safely  accepted  as  an 
index  of  her  future  ;  in  other  words,  her  past  is 
not  likely  to  be  repeated.  In  fact,  she  does  not 
wish  to  repeat  or  perpetuate  any  thing  that  can 
be  improved.  Her  political  creed  is  as  simple 
as  it  is  brief,  —  the  "  greatest  good  to  the  great- 
est number ; "  and  yet  it  is  the  most  complex 


134  NATURE  AND  CULTURE. 

creed,  perhaps,  that  ever  existed,  involving 
questions  which  have  not  been  and  cannot  be 
satisfactorily  settled. 

America  knows  what  she  has  been,  but  does 
not  know  what  she  will  be.  It  is  doubtful  if 
she  knows  what  she  would  be.  She  has  several 
favorite  watchwords,  such  as  progress,  freedom, 
and  equal  rights,  and  but  few,  if  any,  settled 
opinions.  Her  present  position  is  her  stand- 
point of  judgment.  In  attempting  to  achieve 
what  she  most  desires,  she  relies  on  experiment 
rather  than  precedent.  In  her  forecast  consist 
her  welfare  and  her  political  sagacity  ;  yet  she 
can  no  more  predict  than  control  her  future. 
None  but  a  divine  intelligence  can  comprehend 
the  extent  or  grandeur  of  her  future. 

One  thing  is  certain,  the  rapidity  of  her 
career  approaches  railway  speed.  What  imped- 
iments may  lie  in  her  track,  or  what  collisions 
may  occur,  it  is  impossible  for  man  to  foresee. 
It  would  seem,  however,  that  she  is  an  instru- 
mentality in  divine  hands ;  a  nationality,  whose 
task  it  is  to  work  out  the  great  problem  of  a 
just  government,  —  one  in  which  all  political 
power  is  vested  in  the  people,  and  exercised  by 
the  people  for  the  common  purpose  of  securing 
the  greatest  possible  good  to  the  greatest 
possible  number.  The  right  to  live  under  such 
a  government  is  a  natural  right,  and  should 


AMERICA  AND  HER  FUTURE.  135 

be  accorded  to  every  human  being,  the  world 
over. 

In  all  human  governments  there  are,  and 
probably  ever  will  be,  more  or  less  imperfections 
growing  out  of  mistaken  theories,  or  arising  from 
their  practical  workings.  Though  it  may  not  be 
possible  by  legislation  or  otherwise  to  remedy 
every  imperfection,  yet  there  can  be  no  political 
inequality  which  may  not  be  so  far  modified  as 
to  extend  to  every  citizen  equal  rights  and  equal 
justice.  There  is  a  natural  love  of  freedom  and 
of  justice  implanted  within  the  human  breast, 
which  lies  at  the  foundation,  not  only  of  the 
political,  but  of  the  social  fabric.  This  love  of 
freedom  and  of  justice  is  an  instinctive  feeling, 
if  not  an  inspired  sentiment,  which  ennobles  the 
patriot,  and  converts  him  into  a  hero.  When 
oppressed,  the  true  hero  smites  his  oppressor. 
This  is  a  law  of  his  nature —  an  attempt  to  re- 
dress a  wrong  —  and  therefore  an  element  of 
human  government.  When  a  civil  government 
has  been  instituted,  positive  law  becomes  the  rule 
of  right.  But  when  nations  differ,  and  diplo- 
macy fails  in  its  mission,  there  remains  no 
recognized  alternative  for  adjustment  but  a 
reference  to  the  arbitrament  of  the  sword.  This 
final  method  of  redressing  national  wrongs  has 
descended  to  modern  times  from  the  primitive 
ages  of  barbarism,  and,  when  adopted,  as  often 


136  NATURE  AND  CULTURE. 

terminates  in  perpetuating  the  wrong  as  in  re- 
dressing it.  It  is,  to  say  the  least  of  it,  a  method 
which  is  entirely  inconsistent  with  the  refined 
civilization  of  the  present  age. 

There  seems  to  be  no  good  reason  why  an 
international  code  of  laws  might  not  be  adopted 
by  all  civilized  nations  for  their  common  govern- 
ment in  redressing  their  grievances.  If  such  a 
code  could  be  framed  and  accepted,  it  would  not 
only  secure  the  just  rights  of  nations  from  in- 
fraction as  against  each  other,  but  would  unite 
them  in  their  mutual  interests  and  sympathies 
by  the  indissoluble  ties  of  a  common  fraternity. 
Then  all  differences  and  dissensions  could  be 
settled,  as  they  should  be,  by  negotiation  or 
voluntary  submission  to  arbitration ;  and  then 
wars  would  cease  and  rivers  of  blood  no  longer 
flow. 

Nations,  in  their  relations  to  each  other,  are 
but  individuals,  and  should,  as  such,  be  sub- 
jected to  wholesome  restraints  by  some  recog- 
nized authority.  The  proper  authority  would 
seem  to  be  a  representative  Congress  of  Nations. 
This  view  of  the  matter  is  an  American  idea, 
and  one  which  has  been  suggested  by  American 
experience.  The  assumption  that  every  nation 
is  an  independent  sovereignty,  if  not  absurd  in 
theory,  is  by  no  means  true  in  fact.  No  civilized 
nation  can  live  within  itself  and  for  itself ;  but 


AMERICA  AND  HER  FUTURE.  137 

must  and  will,  in  order  to  supply  its  wants, 
hold  commercial  intercourse  with  other  nations. 
The  productions  of  the  earth  belong  to  man, 
and  are  essential,  whether  of  this  or  that  clime, 
to  his  health  and  happiness,  and  will,  therefore, 
be  sought  and  distributed.  Even  the  social 
relations  of  one  nation  with  another  are  hardly 
less  conducive  to  the  general  welfare  than  their 
commercial  relations,  especially  since  steam- 
power  and  the  telegraph-wire  have  compara- 
tively made  all  men  next  door  neighbors. 

In  these  modern  times  no  government  which 
is  not  just  in  its  administration  can  long  survive 
without  provoking  a  revolution.  It  is  only  as 
a  last  resort  that  revolution  becomes  an  ele- 
mentary right,  and  then  it  must  succeed  in  order 
to  be  recognized  as  a  right.  Nations  succeed 
each  other  as  naturally  as  individuals,  sooner  or 
later.  The  interest  of  all,  whether  national  or 
individual,  is  the  interest  of  each.  Hence,  man- 
kind the  world  over,  should  be  regarded  as  a 
common  brotherhood,  entitled  to  the  enjoyment 
of  equal  rights  and  equal  justice  as  the  legiti- 
mate sequence  of  their  fraternal  relationship. 
And  yet,  neither  in  ancient  nor  in  modern  times 
do  we  find  a  perfect  government.  It  is  true, 
however,  that  we  sometimes  speak  of  our  own 
American  Republic  as  a  perfect  system  of 
popular  government ;  yet  it  is  nothing  more,  in 


138  NATURE  AND   CULTURE. 

fact,  than  an  unsatisfactory  experiment.  It  is 
a  system  which  grew  out  of  circumstances,  and 
one  which  changes  with  circumstances. 

It  was  near  the  close  of  the  eighteenth  cen- 
tury when  America  began  to  lose  her  affec- 
tionate regard  for  her  mother  England.  This 
change  in  her  affections  grew  out  of  the  fact 
that  the  mother  evinced  a  sincerer  love  for 
money  than  for  the  welfare  of  her  daughter. 
Remonstrance,  though  calmly  uttered,  proved 
unavailing.  It  was  then  that  America,  for  the 
first  time,  gave  indications  of  possessing  a  proud 
Puritanic  spirit  that  would  not  brook  oppression. 
The  imposition  of  the  stamp-act  had  incurred 
her  displeasure ;  nor  did  an  invitation  to  "  take 
tea "  restore  her  to  equanimity.  Instead  of 
condescending  to  take  so  much  as  a  "sip  "of 
that  favorite  beverage,  she  had  the  audacity  to 
commit  whole  cargoes  of  it  to  the  voracity  of 
the  "  ocean  wave."  This  offence  provoked 
England  to  take  an  avowed  hostile  attitude. 
America,  still  unawed,  proceeded  to  beat  her 
ploughshares  and  pruning-hooks  into  broad- 
swords. War,  with  all  its  horrors,  ensued. 
The  result  was,  that,  after  a  seven  years'  con- 
test, liberty  triumphed,  and  American  indepen-* 
dence  became  an  acknowledged  fact. 

America  had  statesmen  in  those  days  who 
were  men  of  pluck.  When  they  signed  the 


AMERICA  AND  HER  FUTURE.  139 

Declaration  of  American  Independence,  and 
proclaimed  it  to  the  civilized  world,  they  took 
their  lives  in  their  hands,  and,  so  far  as  human 
foresight  could  determine,  were  as  likely  to 
reach  the  gallows  as  to  maintain  the  position 
they  had  assumed.  But  fortune  "  favored  the 
brave,"  and,  instead  of  ascending  the  gallows, 
they  ascended  the  pinnacle  of  fame,  and  now 
take  rank  among 

' '  The  few,  the  immortal  names 
That  were  not  born  to  die." 

It  will  be  recollected  that  our  Pilgrim  Fathers, 
on  landing  at  Plymouth  Rock,  entered  into  a 
written  compact  which  contained  the  germs  of 
a  republic, — principles  which  were  expanded  in 
the  subsequent  articles  of  colonial  confedera- 
tion, and  finally  were  so  developed  and  enlarged 
in  their  sweep  and  comprehension  as  to  constitute 
not  only  the  framework,  but  the  life  and  spirit, 
of  the  Federal  Constitution,  which  has  been 
accepted  as  the  written  will  of  a  free  and  magnan- 
imous people.  In  a  republic  like  ours,  the 
popular  will,  when  clearly  expressed,  commands 
respect,  and  must  be  obeyed.  There  is  no  alter- 
native, nor  should  there  be.  As  Americans,  we 
believe  in  the  Constitution,  and  in  the  "  stars  and 
stripes,"  and  would  die,  if  need  be,  in  their 
defence.  We  also  believe  in  ourselves,  and  in 


140  NATURE  AND   CULTURE. 

our  capacity  to  take  care  of  ourselves.  This 
great  fact  is  sufficiently  illustrated  in  our  past 
history  as  a  nation. 

When  her  population  was  but  a  small  fraction 
of  what  it  now  is,  America  not  only  compelled 
England  to  acknowledge  her  independence,  but 
also  compelled  her,  in  a  subsequent  war,  to 
acknowledge  the  doctrine  of  "  free  trade  and 
sailors'  rights." 

Ever  intent  on  enlarging  the  "  area  of  free- 
dom," America  next  sent  out  her  armies  and 
took  possession  of  the  ancient  palaces  of  the 
Montezumas,  and  finally  settled  differences  by 
accepting  the  "  golden  land  "  of  California,  nor 
thought  it,  at  the  time,  much  of  a  bargain. 
And  last,  not  least,  she  suppressed  within  her 
own  borders,  despite  the  adverse  influences  of 
England,  one  of  the  most  formidable  rebellions 
the  world  ever  beheld,  and  succeeded  in  restor- 
ing fraternal  harmony  throughout  the  Union. 

In  the  history  of  the  world  there  have  been 
many  forms  of  human  government,  which  have 
arisen  at  successive  periods,  and  which  may  be 
classed  as  the  patriarchal,  the  monarchical,  the 
aristocratic,  and  the  democratic.  The  last  was 
originally  a  direct  rule  of  the  people  ;  but,  from 
necessity  and  convenience,  has  now  become  a 
representative  government,  chosen  by  the  peo- 
ple, and  controlled  by  their  will  and  action  as 


AMERICA  AND  HER  FUTURE.  141 

expressed  through  the  medium  of  the  ballot-box. 
The  doctrine  that  "  the  majority  must  rule " 
is  evidently  based  on  the  scriptural  idea,  that 
in  a  "  multitude  of  counsellors  there  is  safety ;  " 
and  yet  this  is  not  always  true.  Minorities  are 
often  right,  and  majorities  wrong.  What  is  right, 
and  what  is  wrong,  is  a  matter  of  opinion,  ever 
changing  with  the  advance  of  civilization. 

Take  any  form  of  government  you.  please,  and 
analyze  it,  and  you  will  find  that  its  vitality, 
and  its  ability  to  preserve  itself,  are  based  on 
physical  power,  — a  power  to  coerce ;  and  when 
this  power  fails,  the  government  fails,  and  either 
anarchy  or  revolution  is  the  inevitable  conse- 
quence. Yet  the  moral  power  of  a  government, 
though  it  may  not  save  it,  is  not  less  important 
than  its  physical  power.  When  both  are  exer- 
cised with  no  other  view  than  a  sincere  desire 
to  promote  the  public  welfare,  the  government 
is  pretty  certain  of  being  sustained,  and  simply 
for  the  reason  that  it  is  approved  by  a  generous 
and  healthful  public  sentiment.  But  let  public 
sentiment  become  corrupted  by  the  influences 
of  aspiring  demagogues,  or  by  men  who  avow 
principles  in  conflict  with  the  public  interests, 
and  no  government,  however  pure  and  just  in 
its  inception,  can  long  command  respect,  or  pre- 
serve its  authority. 

Every   nation    has  its    representative    men. 


142  NATURE  AND   CULTURE. 

America  has  hers.  Cotton  Mather  was  a  Puri- 
tan and  a  theocrat ;  Benjamin  Franklin,  a 
patriot  and  a  philosopher  ;  George  Washington, 
a  great  general  and  a  model  man  ;  Thomas  Jef- 
ferson, a  true  democrat  and  a  wise  statesman ; 
Andrew  Jackson,  a  hero  at  New  Orleans,  and  a 
Jupiter  in  the  presidential  chair ;  and  Abraham 
Lincoln,  a  man  of  destiny,  who  crushed  rebel- 
lion, and  proclaimed  freedom  to  four  millions  of 
slaves.  These  were  the  men  of  power  in  the 
hands  of  Divine  Power ;  and  yet  they  did  not 
comprehend  the  sequence  of  their  mission. 
Their  achievements  marked  the  age  in  which 
they  lived,  and  will  doubtless  exercise  a  living 
influence,  more  or  less  controlling,  throughout 
the  coming  ages  of  the  civilized  world. 

Nations,  as  well  as  individuals,  have  their 
destiny  in  their  own  hands.  It  is  the  char- 
acter of  the  individuals  constituting  the  nation 
which  gives  to  the  nation  its  true  character. 
America  began  her  career  by  laying  the  founda- 
tions of  her  character,  not  in  the  sand,  but  on 
the  rock  of  free  schools,  free  churches,  and  a  free 
public  press.  Without  these  institutions  true 
freedom  can  neither  be  acquired,  nor  be  pre- 
served. They  are  the  only  legitimate  nurseries 
of  a  healthful  and  vigorous  public  sentiment. 
Preserve  these  institutions,  and  the  nation  will 
continue  to  be  free  and  prosperous  and  happy 


AMERICA  AND  HER  FUTURE.  143 

and  powerful  and  glorious.  And  yet  there 
may  be  corrupting  influences  growing  out  of  the 
manner  in  which  a  popular  government  is  ad- 
ministered, or  growing  out  of  the  exercise  and 
extent  of  the  right  of  popular  suffrage. 

Indeed,  it  has  already  become  a  grave  ques- 
tion how  far  it  is  safe  to  extend  the  right  of 
suffrage.  It  cannot  be  denied  that  our  American 
population  is  but  an  intermixture  of  different 
nationalities,  thrown  together  by  a  common  de- 
sire to  become  free  men  in  a  free  land.  Yet 
immigrants  continue  to  come  from  the  old 
world,  differing  as  widely  in  their  political  and 
religious  education  and  predilections  as  in  their 
language,  customs,  and  social  habits.  It  is  this 
foreign  element  that  makes  our  population  what 
it  is,  —  an  assimilating,  and  yet  an  unassimilated 
mass.  A  five  years'  residence,  under  our  pres- 
ent naturalization  laws,  entitles  aliens  to  citizen- 
ship and  the  right  of  suffrage.  When  they 
have  acquired  citizenship,  demagogues  assume 
to  be  their  best  friends  only  to  deceive  them 
and  advance  their  own  selfish  aspirations.  In 
this  way  the  original  peculiarities  of  the  differ- 
ent nationalities  are  wrought  into  political  sub- 
serviency, and  employed  as  an  element  of 
power  in  securing  the  balance  of  power.  It  is 
in  this  way  that  the  people  are  first  corrupted, 
and  then  the  government.  It  is  in  this  way 


144  NATURE  AND  CULTURE. 

that  we,  as  a  nation,  allow  demagogues  to  edu- 
cate the  masses  into  a  low  and  degrading  esti- 
mate of  what  constitutes  a  popular  government, 
and  of  what  are  its  true  legitimate  objects. 

The  right  of  suffrage  is  clearly  a  political, 
not  a  natural  right.  It  should  be  exercised  with 
wisdom,  and  only  with  reference  to  the  "  greatest 
good  to  the  greatest  number."  The  ignorant  can- 
not exercise  this  right  with  safety,  for  the  reason 
that  they  are  not  sufficiently  intelligent.  A 
certain  degree  of  education  should  therefore  be 
regarded  as  an  indispensable  prerequisite.  A 
mere  residence  of  five  years  in  the  country, 
without  the  ability  to  read  and  write  the  English 
language,  should  not  be  accepted  as  a  presump- 
tive qualification,  though  strengthened  by  an 
oath  of  allegiance. 

There  are  some  statesmen,  as  well  as  other 
persons,  both  in  this  country  and  in  Europe, 
who  are  earnestly  engaged  in  agitating  the 
question  of  extending  the  right  of  suffrage  to 
women,  on  the  ground  that  women  are  citizens, 
and  often  own  taxable  property,  and  conse- 
quently have  the  same  interest  as  men  in  se- 
curing and  maintaining  a  just  and  proper  ad- 
ministration of  the  government  under  which 
they  live.  While  this  is  true,  it  is  equally  true 
that  men  are  endowed  by  nature  with  more 
physical,  if  not  more  mental  strength  than 


AMERICA  AND  HER  FUTURE.  145 

women,  and  have  a  higher  regard  for  the  diviner 
sex  than  they  have  for  themselves,  and,  con- 
sequently, were  created  to  be  their  protectors 
and  guardians.  In  fact,  the  two  sexes  are  but 
counterparts  of  each  other,  as  much  so  as  the 
two  halves  of  an  apple.  In  Nature's  arithmetic, 
the  two  count  but  one,  and  should  be  but  one 
in  heart  and  in  life.  But,  somehow  or  other, 
many  of  these  halves  get  strangely  mismatched, 
or  are  never  matched  at  all.  This  is  not  a  fault 
of  Nature,  but  a  defect  in  our  social  system.  If 
it  were  considered  as  proper  for  women  as  for 
men  to  be  the  first  to  propose  marriage,  it 
would,  doubtless,  lead  to  the  happiest  re- 
sults. But,  taking  things  as  they  are,  the 
thought  has  occurred  to  me  that  it  would  be 
wise  for  the  State  to  limit  the  right  of  suffrage 
to  men  who  are,  or  have  been  married,  for  the 
reason  that  such  men  would  naturally  feel  the 
deepest  interest  in  sustaining  a  good  govern- 
ment. Let  the  right  to  vote  and  to  hold  office 
depend  on  marriage ;  let  the  honors  of  State 
and  of  society  be  conferred  on  none  but  those 
who  have  honored  themselves  by  assuming  the 
duties  and  responsibilities  of  wedded  life,  and  I 
doubt  not  that  all  marriageable  bachelors 
would  aspire  to  the  honors  of  full  citizenship, 
while  marriageable  women  would  soon  find  their 
proper  places  in  their  proper  sphere,  and  the 
10 


146  NATURE  AND  CULTURE. 

government  become  what  it  should  be,  —  pure 
in  its  principles  and  just  in  its  administration. 

America  is  in  a  transition  state,  and  will,  in 
all  probability,  continue  to  trust  in  the  success 
of  untried  experiment,  rather  than  rely  on  her 
past  experience.  But  still  there  survives  within 
the  American  breast  a  popular  sentiment,  which, 
like  the  magnetic  needle,  ever  points  to  an 
unerring  polar-star.  It  is  only  amid  clouds  and 
storms  that  dangers  arise,  or  become  alarming. 
It  is  therefore  important  that  the  ship  of  state 
should  be  intrusted  to  none  but  skilful  mari- 
ners. The  pilot  should  appreciate  the  dignity 
of  his  position,  and  comprehend  the  extent  of 
his  responsibilities.  Whether  the  "  golden  age  " 
of  America  terminated  with  the  outbreak  of  her 
great  civil  rebellion,  or  commenced  at  the  date 
of  its  final  suppression,  remains,  perhaps,  an 
undecided  question ;  yet  there  are  thousands 
who  believe  that  her  golden  age  has  passed, 
never  to  return.  This  may  or  may  not  be  true. 

It  is  hardly  to  be  expected,  however,  that  a 
happier  age  will  ever  arrive  than  that  which 
existed  prior  to  the  Southern  rebellion.  The 
people  generally,  both  North  and  South,  before 
an  appeal  to  arms  occurred,  were  characterized 
by  a  genial  sincerity  in  the  expression  of  their 
political  views  and  in  the  recognition  of  their 
constitutional  obligations,  as  well  as  in  their 


AMERICA  AND  HER  FUTURE.  147 

ecclesiastical  connections  and  social  relations. 
They,  in  fact,  felt  that  they  were  akin  to  each 
other,  and  regarded  each  other  as  a  common 
brotherhood,  having  mutual  interests  in  sustain- 
ing a  common  government,  —  a  government 
which  their  fathers  had  framed,  and  bequeathed 
to  them  and  to  coming  generations.  In  this  rela- 
tion, for  nearly  a  century,  the  North  and  the 
South  enjoyed  uninterrupted  peace  and  pros- 
perity, and  America  took  her  position  as  one  of 
the  great  and  powerful  nations  of  the  earth. 

But  in  the  midst  of  this  happy  period  of 
American  history  appeared  interpreters  of  the 
"  higher  law,"  so  called,  whose  aggressive  fanat- 
icism disregarded  constitutional  rights,  and 
thereby  engendered  the  "  doctrine  of  secession." 
The  first  blow  in  the  contest  was  struck  at 
Harper's  Ferry ;  the  second  at  Fort  Sumter. 
Secession  became  a  living  fact.  Conflict  fol- 
lowed conflict,  and  millions  of  brave  men  were 
slain  on  the  battle-field.  The  lamentations  of 
widows  and  orphans  were  heard  all  over  the 
land,  and  the  cries  of  despair  ascended  to 
heaven ;  even  "  Freedom  shrieked  "  amid  the 
devastation.  At  last,  with  the  exhaustion  of 
the  South,  came  the  white-winged  messenger  of 
peace.  The  military  power  of  the  North  had 
triumphed;  and,  as  a  result,  four  millions  of 
ignorant  slaves  were  emancipated,  and  invested 


148  NATURE  AND  CULTURE. 

at  once  with  all  the  rights  of  citizenship.  In 
addition  to  this  an  oppressive  public  debt  was 
created,  accompanied  with  a  national  demoral- 
ization still  more  to  be  deplored. 

And  now  it  becomes  a  grave  question,  whether 
the  freedom  of  these  emancipated  slaves  will 
prove  a  boon  or  a  curse  to  them.  As  yet  they 
cannot  comprehend  their  relative  position  ;  nor 
can  they  foresee  their  ultimate,  though  not  dis- 
tant destiny,  —  extinction.  As  a  race  they  differ 
widely  in  their  natural  characteristics  from  the 
superior  race  among  whom  they  have  been  dif- 
fused. They  belong  to  Africa.  The  two  races, 
being  distinct  in  the  conditions  of  their  origin 
and  physical  structure,  as  well  as  in  their  tem- 
perament and  tastes,  can  never  harmonize  as 
one  people,  either  in  their  social  or  political 
relations,  on  the  basis  of  a  perfect  equality. 
The  thing  is  impossible,  simply  for  the  reason 
that  the  law  of  antagonism  which  exists 
between  the  two  races  is  founded  in  Nature, 
and  is  therefore  a  divine  law,  which  can  neither 
be  controlled  nor  essentially  modified  by  legisla- 
tion or  education.  In  fact,  a  "  war  of  races  " 
has  already  become  imminent,  and  must,  when 
it  does  come,  terminate  in  the  expulsion,  if  not 
extinction,  of  the  inferior  race. 

In  the  future  of  America  there  are  mystic 
events  which  time  only  can  disclose.  "  On- 


AMERICA  AND  HER  FUTURE.  149 

ward  "  is  the  watchword  of  the  living  present. 
Every  American  believes  there  is  "  a  tide  in  the 
affairs  of  men  which,  taken  at  the  flood,  leads 
on  to  fortune."  The  "  almighty  dollar  "  is  his 
leading  star.  Hoards  of  gold  and  silver  glitter 
in  the  distance.  In  acquiring  wealth  he  acquires 
power.  He  knows  that  wealth  is  power ;  and 
hence  the  acquisition  of  wealth  has  become  the 
ruling  passion  of  the  age.  In  other  words, 
money  supersedes  merit,  while  moral  honesty  is 
held  at  a  discount.  Lamentable  as  the  fact  may 
be,  it  is  evident  that  an  unscrupulous  desire  to 
obtain  wealth  and  political  honors  pervades  all 
classes  of  American  society,  from  the  highest 
to  the  lowest. 

In  order  to  facilitate  the  accumulation  of 
wealth,  and  achieve  their  ambitious  aims,  indi- 
viduals consolidate  their  capital  in  corporations, 
and  corporations  consolidate  themselves  into 
overgrown  monopolies.  In  this  way  almost 
every  leading  branch  of  trade  and  of  manufac- 
tures, as  well  as  railroad  interests,  shipping 
interests,  and  telegraph  lines,  are  merged  in 
corporations,  —  in  fact,  nearly  all  that  remains  of 
individuality  is  lost  in  eorporationality.  Of 
course  the  mere  individual,  however  meritorious, 
becomes  literally  powerless,  unless  recognized 
by  a  corporation.  Though  a  trite  saying,  it  is 
nevertheless  true,  that  corporations  are  "  soul- 


150  NATURE  AND  CULTURE. 

less,"  and  therefore  devoid  of  human  feeling 
and  of  human  sympathies.  Among  the  most 
formidable  of  these  monopolies  are  the  railroad 
corporations,  ever  busy  in  weaving  their  spider- 
like  webs  over  the  entire  continent.  In  dis- 
charging their  duties  to  the  public  they  seldom 
subordinate  their  own  interests. 

Almost  every  man  of  wealth  in  America  is  a 
stockholder  in  one  or  more  incorporated  compa- 
nies, and  will,  of  course,  act  politically,  as  well 
as  individually,  in  accordance  with  his  interests. 
Both  the  commercial  and  financial  operations  of 
the  country  are  essentially  in  the  hands  of  cor- 
porations. They,  in  fact,  monopolize  the  bank- 
ing institutions;  and  if  they  do  not  control, 
they  evidently  desire  to  control  the  legislation 
and  government  of  the  entire  country.  Indeed, 
the  time  has  already  come,  when,  in  quite  too 
many  instances,  the  popular  voice  yields  to  the 
corporative  voice,  while  personal  merit  and 
qualification  for  office  become  questions  of  sec- 
ondary importance.  It  is  easy  to  be  seen  that 
corporative  interests  have  become  not  only 
gigantic,  but  are  engaged,  with  pick  and  spade, 
in  undermining  the  very  foundations  of  the  Re- 
public. If  the  people  would  preserve  their  equal 
rights,  and  enjoy  the  blessings  of  a  free  govern- 
ment, they  must  not  only  remember,  but  act  on 
the  principle,  that  "  eternal  vigilance  is  the  price 
of  liberty." 


AMERICA   AND  HER  FUTURE.  151 

It  is  owing  to  the  tendency  of  capital  to  com- 
bine its  productive  energies  that  workingmen, 
as  they  are  pleased  to  designate  themselves, 
conceive  the  idea  that  capital  and  labor  are  an- 
tagonistic in  their  interests.  Hence  working- 
men,  especially  miners  and  mechanics,  combine 
against  capitalists  for  the  purpose  of  securing 
higher  rates  of  wages.  In  doing  this,  they 
resort  to  "  strikes,"  violate  their  contracts,  and 
dictate  their  own  prices.  If  their  terms  are  not 
accepted,  they  refuse  to  work,  and  the  great 
leading  industries  of  the  country  are  crippled, 
if  not  suspended.  A  train  of  moral  and  phys- 
ical evils  follows,  which  are  more  seriously  felt 
by  the  "  strikers  "  than  by  capitalists.  If  move- 
ments of  this  kind  are  continued,  the  obvious 
result  will  be  to  drive  capital  out  of  the  coun- 
try to  seek  a  more  reliable  investment.  It  is 
labor  that  produces  capital,  and  capital  that 
furnishes  labor.  The  one  must  depend  on  the 
other.  Their  interests  are  therefore  mutual, 
and  both  are  entitled  to  equal  protection.  Their 
relations  to  each  other  must  necessarily  be  reg- 
ulated by  the  law  of  supply  and  demand. 
There  is  no  other  law  or  power  that  can  do  it. 
If  force  be  applied,  it  is  certain  to  re-act.  Yet 
the  field  is  alike  open  to  all.  The  laborer 
often  becomes  a  capitalist,  and  the  capitalist  a 
laborer.  What  are  known  as  "  strikes,"  there- 


152  NATURE  AND   CULTURE. 

fore,  can  effect  no  lasting  good  to  any  one. 
They  are  but  elements  of  social  discord,  which 
demagogues  seize  and  control  for  their  own 
aggrandizement.  In  fact,  "  Trades  Unions  "  are 
nothing  more  nor  less  than  organized  conspi- 
racies against  capitalists  and  the  best  interests 
of  the  country.  If  tolerated,  the  government 
itself  is  in  danger  of  being  ultimately  subverted. 
It  is  clear  that  the  tendency  of  these  unions  is 
to  produce  disunion.  They  have  already  be- 
come so  formidable  in  numbers,  and  in  political 
influence,  as  to  render  it  doubtful  whether  any 
legislation  could  be  obtained,  or  military  power 
enforced,  which  would  either  control  or  restrain 
them  in  their  action  and  ultimate  aims.  In  view 
of  this  state  of  things,  it  would  seem  that  the 
time  has  come  when  the  American  people,  as  a 
nation,  should  pause  and  "  take  the  sober  second 
thought." 

It  is  often  said  that  the  world  is  governed  too 
much.  But,  so  far  as  this  country  is  concerned, 
the  reverse  seems  much  nearer  the  truth.  Our 
government  is  presumed  to  be  the  creature  of 
public  opinion.  In  theory  it  is  so  ;  but  in  prac- 
tice we  generally  find  that  what  is  called  pub- 
lic opinion  is  manufactured  by  a  few  scheming 
politicians,  through  the  instrumentalities  of 
packed  conventions  and  a  subservient  public 
press.  And  hence  candidates  for  office  are 


AMERICA  AND  HER  FUTURE.  153 

selected  with  a  view  to  their  availability  rather 
than  for  their  known  capacity  and  integrity. 
This  failure  to  select  the  best  men  of  the  coun- 
try to  govern  it,  and  administer  its  laws,  has 
already  resulted  in  degrading  American  charac- 
ter by  the  corrupt  practices  which  it  has  gener- 
ated, if  not  sanctioned,  in  every  department  of 
government,  whether  federal,  state,  or  munici- 
pal. 

In  fact,  dangers  lurk  on  every  side.  There 
is  no  safety,  unless  it  can  be  found  in  the 
virtue  and  intelligence  of  the  people.  If  in 
this  respect  the  people  are  deficient,  it  is 
the  fault  of  their  education.  The  rights  of 
citizenship  should  depend  on  education,  and  the 
masses,  if  need  be,  should  be  educated  by  com- 
pulsion. As  it  now  is,  the  learned  professions 
are  regarded  as  the  main  pillars  that  sustain 
the  social  fabric.  They,  in  fact,  give  tone  to 
public  sentiment,  and  erect  the  standard  of 
public  morals.  The  masses  accept  their  opin- 
ions, and  seldom  question  their  accuracy.  And 
yet  the  masses  are  often  misled.  The  few 
corrupt  the  many.  Hence  it  is  that  we  so 
often  see  the  lawyer,  the  doctor,  and  even  the 
clergyman,  swayed  in  their  political  action  by 
improper  incentives  ;  and  especially  is  this  true 
of  professed  politicians  and  official  dignitaries. 
As  a  matter  of  course  public  sentiment  becomes 


154  NATURE  AND  CULTURE. 

demoralized,  and  almost  every  species  of  fraud 
and  corruption  comes  to  be  regarded  as  quite 
respectable.  If  for  this  state  of  things  there  be 
a  remedy,  it  is  only  to  be  found  in  our  public 
schools  and  in  the  moral  teachings  of  our 
churches.  It  is  here  that  the  work  of  reform 
must  begin,  the  sooner  the  better.  It  should 
begin  by  relaying  the  foundations  of  the  Repub- 
lic deeper  and  broader,  and  with  principles  as 
solid  and  permanent  as  the  masonry  of  the 
everlasting  hills.  When  this  great  radical  work 
has  been  accomplished,  the  threatening  clouds 
which  now  cast  their  shadows  over  our  national 
future, 

"  Will  fold  their  tents,  like  the  Arabs, 
And  as  silently  steal  away." 

While  in  the  tendencies  of  the  age  we  see 
much  to  admire,  we  also  see  much  to  be  re- 
gretted. In  a  word,  there  is  too  much  friction 
in  the  complicated  machinery  that  spins  and 
weaves  the  web  and  woof  of  American  charac- 
ter. In  religion,  morals,  and  politics,  wide 
differences  of  opinion  are  to  be  expected,  yet 
they  should  be  honest.  While  a  free  public 
press  may  be  regarded  in  theory  as  the  "  palla- 
dium of  American  liberty,"  it  seems  to  proceed, 
practically,  on  the  belief  that  its  own  interests 
are  the  public  interests.  Especially  is  this  true 


AMERICA  AND  HER  FUTURE.  155 

of  the  political  press.  Money,  instead  of  prin- 
ciple, is  too  often  its  guiding  star.  By  its  in- 
fluence, men  in  office,  and  out  of  office,  are 
made  and  unmade  at  pleasure.  And  this  will 
ever  be  the  case  so  long  as  editorial  utterances 
are  accepted  as  oracular.  And  yet  there  is 
hope,  and  perhaps  safety,  even  in  the  freedom 
of  our  partisan  prints,  so  long  as  they  continue 
to  expose  the  falsities  of  each  other,  whatever 
may  be  their  motives.  If,  as  in  China,  the  head 
of  every  editor  who  knowingly  publishes  an 
untruth  were  demanded  as  a  forfeit,  it  is  to  be 
feared  that  gentlemen  of  the  "  tripod  "  would 
soon  become  "  few  and  far  between"  in  this 
broad  land  of  the  free.  Yet  the  newspaper  is 
the  controlling  power  of  the  government,  and 
the  mouth-piece  of  public  sentiment.  Editors 
should,  therefore,  appreciate  their  responsibility, 
as  well  as  "  take  the  responsibility." 

Though  rotation  in  office  may  be  regarded  as 
a  wholesome  principle  in  the  administration  of 
a  popular  government,  it  is  evident,  from  the 
history  of  the  past,  that  frequent  elections  tend 
to  disturb  the  peace  and  harmony  of  society. 
One  political  campaign  scarcely  ends  before 
another  begins.  Especially  is  this  true  of  our 
Presidential  elections.  The  spirit  of  these 
elections  extends  to  all  our  local  elections,  and 
often  renders  them  equally  bitter  and  intolerant. 


156  NATURE  AND  CULTURE. 

The  keynote  is  usually  sounded  by  the  friends  of 
the  administration,  who  wish  to  retain  its  pat- 
ronage ;  or  by  opponents,  who  seek  to  overthrow 
it  for  the  sake  of  the  "  spoils."  Though  candi- 
dates for  office  contend  loudly  for  principles 
and  reform,  it  is  evident,  that,  with  many  of 
them,  the  public  treasury  is  the  centre  of  attrac- 
tion. It  is  true,  however,  that  there  are  some 
honorable  exceptions,  some  men  who  are  influ- 
enced by  patriotic  motives,  who  love  their 
country,  and  desire  to  promote  its  real  welfare, 
and  who  would  rather  "  do  right  than  be  Presi- 
dent of  the  United  States." 

In  a  government  like  ours,  which  is  essen- 
tially partisan  in  its  character,  there  exists  a 
manifest  want  of  promptitude  in  the  exercise 
of  its  central  power.  In  other  words,  it  takes 
a  Republic  too  long  to  move  and  execute  in  a 
crisis.  It  is  prevented  from  doing  this  by  the 
popular  trammels  which  environ  it.  And  yet 
it  is  often  as  difficult  to  ascertain  what  is  the 
popular  will  as  it  is  to  comply  with  it.  For 
this  reason  it  is  often  a  slavish  fear,  rather  than 
a  sense  of  right,  that  controls  the  administra- 
tion of  the  government.  Even  our  best  men, 
when  placed  in  power,  become  so  sensitive  to 
public  opinion  that  their  moral  courage  "  oozes 
out  at  their  fingers'  ends."  They  see  lions  in 
their  path,  and  therefore  fear  to  do  their  duty. 


AMERICA  AND  HER  FUTURE.  157 

So  long  as  a  love  of  office,  rather  than  a  love  of 
country,  influences  the  action  of  the  politician 
and  the  statesman,  there  can  be  neither  strength 
nor  stability  in  the  framework  of  democratic  in- 
stitutions. For  an  illustration  of  this,  we  need 
only  appeal  to  the  histories  of  Greece  and  Rome. 
America  has  produced,  however,  many  model 
men,  and,  doubtless,  will  produce  many  more  of 
a  like  character.  It  is  men  that  we  want,  men 
of  nerve  and  pluck,  as  well  as  men  of  wisdom. 

It  is  impossible  to  predict  the  future,  except 
as  we  see  it  from  a  standpoint  of  the  present. 
Hence  it  is,  perhaps,  that  we  apprehend  dan- 
gers Avhen  there  are  none.  Yet  we  know  that 
the  elements  of  dissolution  are  incorporated 
into  the  very  material  that  constitutes  the  uni- 
verse. And  so  it  is  with  the  nations  of  the 
earth.  The  law  of  change  is  universal.  It 
affects  alike  both  the  moral  and  the  physical 
world.  In  his  desires,  man,  as  an  individual,  is 
insatiable  ;  and  so  are  nations.  It  is  a  promi- 
nent trait  of  Americans  to  want  territory,  and 
to  acquire  territory.  They  must  have  elbow- 
room  ;  but  the  misfortune  is,  they  do  not  know 
when  they  have  enough.  It  seems  as  if  they 
aspired  to  grasp  the  world,  and  to  govern  the 
world. 

It  is  doubtless  true  that  we,  as  a  nation,  have 
already  acquired  too  much  territory.  The  re- 


158  NATURE  AND  CULTURE. 

suit  is,  the  government  has  become  unwieldy, 
and  the  danger  great  that  it  will  break  down, 
sooner  or  later,  of  its  own  weight.  So  vast  is 
the  national  domain,  and  so  various  is  it  in  its 
climate,  productions,  and  population,  that  its 
central  power  cannot  so  legislate  as  to  do  equal 
justice  to  all  interests,  and,  at  the  same  time, 
harmonize  the  conflict  of  public  sentiment. 
This  stajte  of  things  had  its  influence  in  pro- 
ducing the  outbreak  of  the  late  rebellion.  For 
grievances  of  this  character,  there  would  seem 
to  be  no  other  remedy  than  that  of  revolution 
or  secession. 

We  can  but  hope,  however,  that  the  States 
now  known  as  the  United  States,  will  continue 
to  increase  in  numbers,  and  to  harmonize  as  one 
people,  one  nation,  and  one  government.  Yet 
it  is  quite  possible  that  the  time  will  come  when 
they  will  sever  into  groups,  and  become  inde- 
pendent of  their  present  federal  relation  to  each 
other,  in  accordance  with  their  peculiar  sectional 
interests,  "  peaceably  if  they  can,  forcibly  if 
they  must."  Then,  instead  of  one,  we  shall 
probably  have  several  independent  American 
confederacies,  whose  future  boundaries  are 
clearly  indicated  not  only  by  differences  of 
climate  and  productions,  but  by  Nature,  as 
marked  by  her  great  intervening  rivers,  lakes, 
and  mountain  ranges.  These  confederacies, 


AMERICA  AND  HER  FUTURE.  159 

when  organized,  will  doubtless  consist  of  those 
groups  of  States  now  known  as  the  Eastern, 
Western,  Southern,  and  Pacific  States. 

In  addition  to  sectional  interests  and  geo- 
graphical differences,  there  are  other  considera- 
tions tending  to  induce  a  dissolution  of  the 
Union.  Among  these  are  an  almost  unlimited 
number  of  political  aspirants,  and  a  rapidly  in- 
creasing population.  In  Europe,  and  in  many 
parts  of  Asia,  an  overgrown  population,  in  con- 
nection with  geographical  differences  and  tribal 
distinctions,  is  doubtless  the  original  cause  which 
led  to  subdivisions  of  empire,  and  the  establish- 
ment of  so  many  petty  kingdoms  as  now  exist 
in  those  countries.  The  same  causes  are  evi- 
dently at  work  on  the  American  continent,  and 
must  ultimately  produce  similar  results.  In  less 
than  a  century  our  population  has  increased  from 
seven  to  forty  millions.  In  the  next  century,  at 
present  rates,  the  increase  from  natural  growth 
and  the  influx  from  foreign  emigration  will,  in 
all  probability,  approximate  to  two  or  three  hun- 
dred millions.  Asia  alone,  judging  from  present 
indications,  will  transfer  to  this  continent,  within 
that  period,  two-thirds  or  more  of  that  number. 
If  this  be  assumed  as  worthy  of  credence,  is  it 
not  time  that  we,  as  American  citizens,  should 
look  ahead,  as  well  as  go  ahead ;  and,  if  possible, 
preserve  our  national  character  ? 


160  NATURE  AND  CULTURE. 

It  is  true  that  an  intermixture  of  foreign 
blood  with  American  blood  may  tend  to  develop 
a  higher  order  of  manhood ;  yet,  when  we  go 
so  far  as  to  permit  foreign  languages  to  be 
taught  in  our  public  schools  at  the  public  ex- 
pense as  essential  to  an  American  education, 
and  that,  too,  at  the  dictation  of  denizens  whose 
education  and  predilections  are  in  conflict  with 
our  own,  have  we  not  reason  to  fear  the  ulti- 
mate results  ?  If  this  insidious  influence  of 
foreign  growth  be  allowed  to  control  our  educa- 
tional system,  it  will  not  be  long  before  we  shall 
adopt  foreign  habits  and  sentiments,  and  lose 
forever  our  American  nationality. 

If  America  would  be  true  to  herself,  she  must 
preserve  not  only  the  purity  of  her  principles,  but 
the  purity  of  her  spoken  language.  If  foreigners 
choose  to  become  American  citizens,  they  must 
expect  to  become  Americanized  in  language  and 
sentiment,  as  well  as  accept  our  form  of  govern- 
ment. We  want  no  foreign  element  incorpo- 
rated into  our  free  institutions  which  does  not 
harmonize  with  them.  In  a  word,  we  want  no 
union  of  Church  and  State,  no  "  confusion  of 
tongues "  in  our  public  schools,  no  aping  of 
foreign  manners  and  habits,  no  foreign  dicta- 
tion, nothing  but  pure  American  freedom  and 
pure  American  principles. 

It  is  in  this  country  that  Church  and  State,  for 


AMERICA  AND  HER  FUTURE.  161 

the  first  time  in  the  history  of  the  civilized 
world,  have  been  separated,  and  allowed  to  con- 
duct their  own  affairs  in  their  own  way,  and 
independently  of  each  other.  So  far  as  experi- 
ence has  gone  in  this  respect,  it  proves  the 
wisdom  of  the  policy.  And  yet  there  are  many 
statesmen,  who,  in  reading  the  "  signs  of  the 
times,"  think  there  are  reasons  for  believing 
that  the  priesthood  have  inherited  their  ancient 
love  of  civil  power,  and  are  quietly  endeavoring, 
in  various  ways,  to  secure  such  a  degree  of 
moral  power  over  the  popular  mind  as  will, 
in  effect  if  not  in  fact,  transfer  to  them  the 
control  of  the  civil  government. 

If  the  priesthood  are  to  control  the  govern- 
ment, it  matters  but  little  whether  it  be  the 
Catholic  or  the  Protestant.  Both  seem  equally 
ambitious  of  the  mastery,  and  only  lack  the 
power  to  decide  which  shall  triumph.  In  adopt- 
ing ways  and  means,  both  seem  to  be  influenced 
by  the  same  ultimate  design.  Catholicism  re- 
gards the  Church  as  supreme  and  the  State 
as  subordinate ;  repudiates  public  schools,  and 
trains  her  youth  in  the  church,  and  for  the 
church,  thus  preparing  them  to  become  not  only 
adherents  to  the  faith,  but  "  soldiers  of  the 
cross ; "  while  Protestantism  asks  the  recogni- 
tion of  God  in  the  constitution ;  urges  a  fraternal 

union  of  all  her  various  denominations,  with  a 
11 


162  NATURE  AND   CULTURE. 

view  to  concentrate  and  direct  their  moral  force  ; 
and  even  goes  so  far  as  to  discuss  politics  in  the 
pulpit,  —  thus  attempting  to  control  the  results 
of  our  popular  elections,  especially  when  great 
moral  questions  are  supposed  to  be  involved. 
In  all  this  there  may  be  no  insidious  design ; 
but  facts  carry  with  them  a  degree  of  signifi- 
cance which  ought  not  to  be  disregarded.  If  a 
"  religious  war"  must  come,  it  will  be  a  fearful 
contest ;  and  one  which  must  result  in  the  sub- 
version of  free  government,  and  finally  extin- 
guish the  last  hope  of  every  true  philanthro- 
pist. 

And  yet,  as  a  people,  we  need  never  "  despair 
of  the  Republic,"  so  long  as  we  sustain  free 
public  schools,  and  confide  the  government  to 
none  other  than  an  enlightened  and  philan- 
thropic statesmanship.  If  America  continues 
to  respect  herself,  she  is  evidently  destined  to 
wield,  not  only  the  moral  power  of  the  world, 
but  to  complete  the  civilization  of  the  world,. 
Inspired  with  a  desire  to  ameliorate  the  condi- 
tion of  mankind  the  world  over,  she  annually 
expends  millions  of  money  in  advancing  the 
cause  of  a  true  Christianity.  So  inviting  are  her 
free  institutions  that  she  is  rapidly  becoming  a 
central  nation,  in  point  of  wealth,  talent,  and 
population,  as  well  as  in  moral  and  political 
influence.  It  should  be  her  pleasure,  as  well  as 


AMERICA  AND  HER  FUTURE.  163 

aim,  not  only  to  perfect  her  own  government, 
but  to  diffuse  a  knowledge  of  her  liberal  princi- 
ples throughout  the  world. 

In  reverting  to  the  history  of  the  past,  we 
see  that  nations,  like  individuals,  have  their 
career,  succeed  each  other,  and  finally  become 
extinct.  On  this  continent  the  red  race  has 
been  rapidly  succeeded  by  the  white  race. 
Whether  a  still  higher  order  of  man  will  succeed 
the  white  race,  is  a  question  which  time  only 
can  determine. 

Nature  is  provident,  and,  like  Divine  Provi- 
dence, works  in  "  mysterious  ways,"  and  with 
an  aim  to  achieve  ultimate  results.  What 
America  now  is,  we  know  ;  what  she  will  be, 
we  know  not.  It  is  devoutly  to  be  wished, 
however,  that  her  career  may  continue  to  be 
characterized  by  great  and  noble  achievements, 
and  that  her  "  star-spangled  banner  "  may  for- 
ever float  in  triumph  — 

"  O'er  the  land  of  the  free  and  the  home  of  the  brave." 


LIFE  AND  ITS  ASPIRATIONS. 


LIFE  AND  ITS   ASPIRATIONS. 

IN  addressing  you  as  a  graduating  class,  per- 
mit me  to  suggest  for  your  consideration  a  few 
thoughts  on  the  importance  of  regarding  self- 
culture  not  only  as  a  duty,  but  as  the  only 
means  of  elevating  and  ennobling  your  aspira- 
tions in  life. 

Though  you  have  completed  your  academical 
course  with  a  degree  of  success  which  does  you 
credit,  you  should  remember  that  the  great 
work  of  education  still  lies  before  you,  and  that 
the  formation  of  your  characters  and  the  shap- 
ing of  your  destinies  are  committed  to  your  own 
hands.  And  here  let  me  assure  you  that  it  is 
little,  rather  than  great  things,  which  mark  the 
character  of  a  true  gentleman.  In  fact,  there  is 
but  one  way  in  which  a  refined  education  can 
be  acquired,  and  that  is,  "  little  by  little." 

It  is  thus  from  day  to  day,  from  year  to  year, 
from  everybody,  and  from  every  thing,  that 
you  may  learn,  if  you  will,  something  new, 
something  useful ;  and  though  you  care  not  to 
do  it,  yet  you  will,  in  spite  of  yourselves,  learn 


168  NATURE  AND  CULTURE. 

something,  good  or  evil,  just  as  you  may  choose 
to  apply  it. 

You  certainly  have  the  power  to  choose  be- 
tween good  and  evil ;  in  other  words,  to  achieve 
the  loftiest  aims.  Yet,  in  directing  j^our  aspira- 
tions, you  must  adapt  means  to  ends  ;  collect 
your  materials  and  refine  them,  and  in  refining 
them  give  them  the  brilliancy  of  costly  jewels, 
jewels  which  you  can  wear'with  becoming  grace 
and  dignity  wherever  you  may  go,  and  at  all 
times,  and  under  all  circumstances. 

The  acquisition  of  a  mere  book-knowledge, 
however  desirable,  will  avail  you  but  little, 
unless  you  acquire,  at  the  same  time,  correct 
habits  and  principles,  united  with  refinement  of 
manners.  The  world  will  be  likely  to  take  your 
personal  appearance,  your  style  of  dress  and 
address,  as  the  true  index  of  your  character ; 
and,  whether  deceived  at  first  view  or  not,  will 
finally  estimate  you  at  your  true  value.  In 
perfecting  your  education,  it  is  not  to  be  ex- 
pected that  you  are  to  master  every  branch  of 
human  learning,  but  rather  that  you  are  to 
make  your  life  a  life  of  thought,  of  study,  of 
observation  ;  of  strife  to  excel  in  all  that  is 
good,  and  in  doing  good. 

In  attempting  to  achieve  great  things  in  the 
world,  you  must  not  overlook  little  things,  little 
attentions,  little  civilities  due  to  others  with 


LIFE  AND  ITS  ASPIRATIONS.  169 

whom  you  may  come  in  contact;  for  your 
claims  to  consideration  will  be  estimated  by  the 
character  of  your  conduct  in  social  life.  There 
are  certain  conventionalities  recognized  in  good 
society  which  you  must  respect,  and  to  which 
you  must  conform,  if  you  would  be  well  re- 
ceived. Your  manners  and  habits  are,  there- 
fore, of  vital  importance  as  elements  of 
character. 

It  has  been  truly  said  that  man  is  a  "  bundle 
of  habits."  It  may  be  said  with  equal  truth 
that  our  own  worst  enemies  are  "  bad  habits." 
We  all  know  that  bad  habits  fasten  themselves 
upon  us,  as  it  were,  by  stealth ;  and  though  we 
may  not  perceive  the  influence  which  they  exert 
over  us,  yet  other  persons  perceive  it,  remark 
it,  and  judge  us  accordingly.  The  formation 
of  correct  habits  in  early  life  is  comparatively 
easy,  while  the  correction  of  bad  habits,  when 
once  formed,  is  always  difficult,  especially  in 
more  advanced  years.  In  a  word,  if  you  would 
become  model  characters,  you  must  discard  all 
bad  habits,  all  odd  habits,  all  that  is  ungracious 
or  ungraceful  in  word,  deed,  or  manner,  and 
make  it  the  leading  rule  of  your  life  to  observe 
the  proprieties  of  life,  in  all  places  and  under 
all  circumstances.  In  order  to  achieve  all  this, 
it  is  indispensable  that  you  should  study  your- 
selves, watch  yourselves,  criticise  yourselves, 


170  NATURE  AND   CULTURE. 

and  know  yourselves  as  others  know  you.  The 
value  of  self-examination  has  been  forcibly,  as 
well  as  beautifully  expressed  in  a  single  stanza 
by  Robert  Burns,  — 

' '  O  wad  some  power  the  gif tie  gie  us 
To  see  oursel's  as  ithers  see  us ! 
It  wad  frae  monie  a  blunder  free  us, 

An'  foolish  notion: 
What  airs  in  dress  an'  gait  wad  lea'e  us, 

An'  ev'n  devotion!  " 

It  is  true  that  in  relation  to  the  laws  of  eti- 
quette many  books  have  been  written,  which 
are  in  fact  more  read  than  observed,  and  which 
are  more  perplexing  than  practical.  No  lady  or 
gentleman  was  ever  made  truly  polite,  truly 
agreeable,  truly  amiable,  by  a  strict  observance 
of  artificial  rules.  Something  more  is  needed  ; 
something  must  be  done.  It  is  in  the  heart,  in 
the  exercise  of  all  the  moral  and  Christian  vir- 
tues, that  true  politeness  has  its  foundation. 
True  politeness  is  never  selfish,  never  ostenta- 
tious, but  always  overflowing  with  kindness, 
always  angelic  in  its  attributes.  In  word  and 
deed,  it  is  always  considerate,  delicate,  and 
graceful ;  yet  in  its  ministrations  it  always  pre- 
serves its  own  self-respect,  while  it  manifests  its 
sincere  respect  for  all  that  is  good  and  for  all 
that  is  meritorious. 


LIFE  AND  ITS  ASPIRATIONS.  171 

Heaven  has  imposed  on  us  the  duty  of  acquir- 
ing all  the  knowledge  we  can.  In  discharge  of 
this  heaven-born  duty,  we  should  begin  at  once 
the  great  work  of  self-culture,  —  a  work  never 
to  be  discontinued.  He  who  would  build  a 
spacious  and  a  lofty  temple,  a  fit  dwelling-place 
for  divinity,  must  first  lay  the  foundations  broad 
and  deep ;  not  in  sand,  but  on  a  rock  ;  and 
then,  though  storm  and  tempest  beat  against  it, 
it  cannot  fall,  because  it  is  founded  on  a  rock. 

But  in  adopting  a  system  of  self-culture,  too 
much  care  cannot  be  bestowed  on  the  cultiva- 
tion of  your  manners,  your  attitudes,  your  style 
of  conversation,  and  your  expression  of  senti- 
ment. In  regard  to  manners,  it  is  impossible  to 
prescribe  exact  rules.  The  best  models  for  you 
to  copy  are  to  be  found  in  the  manners  of  the 
model  men  and  women  of  our  country  who 
give  tone  to  society.  At  any  rate,  be  governed 
by  good  sense  and  by  the  dictates  of  nature,  so 
modified  by  art  as  to  conceal  art.  To  disguise 
art  is  the  perfection  of  art.  In  this  lies  the 
secret  power  of  angelic  charms,  —  the  charm  of 
polished  womanhood  and  manhood. 

In  your  social  intercourse  employ  a  pure  and 
unambitious  style  of  diction,  and  be  careful  to 
maintain  a  quiet  and  unobtrusive  deportment ; 
and  above  all  things  avoid  singularities  and 
eccentricities,  nor  attempt  to  attract  attention 


172  NATURE  AND   CULTURE. 

for  the  sake  of  gratifying  an  overweaning  van- 
ity. And  while  you  manifest  a  due  respect  for 
others,  bQ  careful  to  maintain  your  own  self- 
respect.  Never  indulge  in  exhibiting  violence 
of  temper;  but  on  all  occasions  control  your 
feelings  and  expressions,  though  provocations 
arise  which  justly  excite  your  indignation. 

If  you  would  attain  to  the  highest  possible 
standard  of  social  refinement  and  moral  virtue, 
you  must  rely  on  yourselves,  must  look  into  the 
mirror  of  your  own  hearts,  and  behold  your  own 
defects,  and  then  proceed  at  once  to  apply  the 
appropriate  remedies.  To  do  this  effectively 
may  cost  you  much  labor,  yet  the  task  will  be 
found  comparatively  easy  when  you  have  re- 
solved to  execute  it. 

It  is  not  only  your  privilege,  but  your  duty, 
to  acquire  knowledge  from  every  source,  as  the 
bee  gathers  honey  from  every  flower.  Collect 
and  compare  facts ;  for  in  every  fact,  whether 
great  or  small,  there  lies  hid  a  lesson  of  wisdom,  — 
a  logic  which  is  not  only  irresistible,  but  divine. 
Theories  are  of  but  little  value  unless  attested 
by  facts.  All  mere  theories  are  alike  worthless, 
whether  they  relate  to  the  physical  or  moral 
world.  "  Prove  all  things,  and  hold  fast  that 
which  is  good."  No  better  rule  than  this,  for 
your  guidance  through  life,  ever  was,  or  ever  can 
be  given.  Facts,  though  "  stubborn  things,"  are 


LIFE  AND  ITS  ASPIRATIONS.  173 

never  falsehoods.  You  may,  therefore,  regard 
facts  as  truth,  as  the  kind  of  mental  food  you 
should  acquire,  digest,  and  convert  into  nutri- 
ment, and  thus  grow  strong  and  wise,  until  you 
have  realized  the  great  fact,  that  "man  was 
created  but  a  little  lower  than  the  angels." 

For  the  purpose  of  self-culture,  in  its  highest 
sense,  an  ordinary  lifetime  seems  quite  too 
short,  though  prolonged  to  threescore  years 
and  ten.  The  value  of  time  cannot  be  over- 
estimated. If  we  would  but  consider  how  many 
precious  moments  we  fritter  away  and  lose  in 
an  unprofitable  manner,  we  should  see  that  it  is 
the  want  of  a  due  regard  for  the  value  of  time, 
rather  than  a  want  of  time,  of  which  we  should 
complain.  It  is  not,  therefore,  the  fault  of  a 
Divine  Providence  that  we  have  not  time  enough 
to  perfect  ourselves  in  the  arts  of  a  refined 
civilization,  and  in  the  realization  of  the  highest 
enjoyment  of  which  our  nature  is  capable. 
Whatever  else  you  may  lose,  never  lose  a 
moment  of  time  which  can  be  profitably  em- 
ployed. A  moment  of  time  once  lost  can 
never  be  regained.  Insignificant  as  a  moment 
may  seem,  your  destiny  may  depend  on  the 
improvement  you  may  make  of  it,  on  the  deed 
or  thought  it  may  prompt.  Life,  though  long, 
is  made  up  of  moments,  and  terminates  in  a 
moment ;  and  all  true  knowledge  is  founded  in 
truth. 


174  NATURE  AND  CULTURE. 

If  you  would  prolong  your  lives,  and  enjoy 
health  and  happiness  accompanied  with  vigor 
of  mind,  study  the  laws  of  health  and  obey 
them.  Make  yourselves  thoroughly  acquainted 
with  yourselves,  by  becoming  acquainted  with 
the  plrysiology  of  the  human  system,  and  by 
living  in  compliance  with  the  requisitions  of  its 
principles.  Nature  is  the  best  physician  you 
can  employ,  whatever  may  be  your  malady  ;  but, 
in  order  to  be  healed  by  her  prescriptions,  you 
must  apply  to  her  in  time,  and  adopt  the  uni- 
form and  temperate  habits  of  life  which  her 
laws  require. 

It  is  said  that  Nature  has  her  favorites.  This 
may  be  true.  It  would  seem  that  some  persons 
are  born  poets,  some  philosophers,  some  fiddlers, 
some  one  thing,  and  some  another.  It  may  be 
said  that  such  persons  are  specialists,  born  to 
accomplish  a  special  purpose.  They  doubtless 
subserve  the  interests  of  mankind  as  models,  or 
standards  of  merit,  in  their  respective  special- 
ties ;  yet  to  be  born  a  genius  is  not,  in  itself,  a 
matter  of  merit,  but  it  is  the  good  one  does  in 
the  world  which  creates  merit  and  crowns  life 
with  honors. 

Nearly  all  of  our  truly  great  men  are  men  of 
self-culture,  who  have  acquired  brains  by  the 
slow  process  of  a  life-long  industry  in  the  pur- 
suit of  knowledge.  This  class  of  men  are  not 


LIFE  AND  ITS  ASPIRATIONS.  175 

only  much  more  numerous  than  born  geniuses, 
but  much  more  useful.  They  have  a  wider 
range  of  intellect  and  wield  a  wider  influence. 
They  are  men  who  read,  think,  and  digest  what 
they  read.  In  their  choice  of  books  they  select 
standard  authors.  They  are  not  book-worms, 
devouring  every  thing  that  is  published ;  nor 
are  they  literary  dyspeptics,  who  feed  on  sen- 
timentalism  and  French  cookery;  but  hale, 
hearty  men,  who  prefer  common  sense  and  roast 
beef,  —  caring  more  for  the  quality  of  their  food 
than  for  the  quantity. 

The  world  in  which  we  live  is  a  beautiful 
world.  He  who  made  it  pronounced  it  good, 
and  designed  it  for  the  residence  of  the  good. 
It  is,  in  itself,  a  paradise  for  all  who  choose  to 
make  it  a  paradise.  In  a  physical  sense,  it  is 
not  only  a  beautiful  world,  but  a  great  store- 
house full  of  knowledge,  full  of  wisdom,  full  of 
facts,  — a  record  of  the  past  and  of  the  future, 
written  by  a  divine  hand.  In  short,  it  is  the 
great  Book  of  Life  —  of  Revelation  —  in  every 
word  of  which  we  may  find  an  outspoken 
thought,  — 

"  Tongues  in  trees,  books  in  running  brooks, 
Sermons  in  stones,  and  good  in  every  thing." 

In  estimating  your  life-work,  you  should  feel 
that  yours  is  a  high  destiny,  and  that  much  is 


176  NATURE  AND  CULTURE. 

expected  of  you.  If  you  would  succeed  in  the 
world,  you  must  have  faith  in  yourselves,  as 
well  as  in  a  Divine  Providence,  and  act  upon 
the  principle  that  "  God  helps  those  who  help 
themselves."  Wherever  you  go,  make  your- 
selves as  acceptable  and  as  agreeable  to  all  with 
whom  you  come  in  contact  as  possible.  If  you 
would  be  preferred,  prefer  others ;  and  if  you 
would  be  beloved,  scatter  flowers  by  the  way- 
side of  life,  but  never  plant  thorns ;  and,  in  all 
you  do  and  say,  unite  modesty  with  simplicity 
and  sincerity. 

There  can  be  no  true  manhood  or  womanhood 
that  does  not  rest  on  character,  in  the  highest 
sense  of  the  term.  In  fact,  it  is  the  character 
we  bear  that  defines  our  social  position.  The 
formation  of  character  is  a  work  of  our  own, 
and  requires  the  exercise  of  all  the  better  and 
higher  powers  of  our  nature.  On  character  de- 
pends not  only  our  usefulness  in  life,  but  our 
individual  happiness.  Character  is  the  engraved 
mark,  or  sign,  by  which  every  individual  is 
known,  and  indicates  the  essential  traits  of  his 
moral  composition,  the  qualities  of  his  head  and 
heart,  as  displayed  in  his  aspirations  and  in  the 
work  of  his  life.  Character  is  more  enduring 
than  reputation.  God  respects  character  ;  man 
respects  reputation.  The  one  is  as  lasting  as 
eternity ;  the  other  as  evanescent  as  the  bubble 


LIFE  AND  ITS  ASPIRATIONS.  177 

that  glitters  in  the  sunshine  for  a  moment,  and 
then  disappears  forever. 

In  forming  a  true  character,  such  an  one  as 
crowns  the  true  man  with  an  imperishable  dia- 
dem, there  are  many  things  to  be  considered, 
especially  the  materials  which  enter  into  its 
moral  masonry.  Its  foundation  must  be  solid 
and  immovable ;  its  superstructure  chaste  and 
elegant;  and  its  proportions  harmonious  and 
beautiful.  Like  a  temple  built  for  the  gods,  ifc 
should  be  worthy  of  the  gods.  It  should  be 
not  only  beautiful  in  its  exterior,  but  be,  in  its 
interior,  the  life-work  of  a  truly  heroic  soul. 

Character  represents  soul.  As  character  is 
moulded  by  human  instrumentalities,  so  is  soul. 
Soul  is,  therefore,  the  essence  of  a  true  man- 
hood, a  living  principle  that  cannot  die.  It  is 
an  influence  in  itself,  and  out  of  itself,  felt 
everywhere  and  forever.  It  is  the  moral  life 
and  the  eternal  life.  Like  a  pebble  cast  into  the 
broad  ocean,  its  impulse  is  sensibly  felt  by  the 
entire  ocean.  Every  particle  moves  a  particle, 
until  the  vast  deep  is  moved.  Such  is  indi- 
vidual influence.  If  character,  then,  be  what  it 
should  be,  truthful,  noble,  divine,  it  will  neces- 
sarily be  Godlike,  and  exert  an  influence  in 
harmony  with  the  benevolent  designs  of 
heaven. 

And  yet  there  are  thousands  who  ^em  to 
12 


178  NATURE  AND  CULTURE. 

live  without  purpose,  live  merely  to  vegetate. 
Of  course  such  persons  do  not  live  in  earnest, 
and  hence,  do  nothing  in  earnest.  They  have  life, 
but  no  lofty  aspirations.  They  may  have  souls ; 
but,  if  so,  they  remain  undeveloped.  In  fact, 
persons  of  this  character  have  no  character,  no 
earnest  work,  no  significance.  And  for  this 
reason,  though  living,  they  are  literally  dead. 
If  we  would  make  the  world  what  it  should 
be,  we  must  first  make  ourselves  what  we  should 
be.  The  work  must  begin  at  home,  in  our  own 
own  hearts,  and  with  a  view  to  our  own  moral 
needs. 

In  the  cultivation  of  a  pure  heart-life,  we 
should  begin  by  cultivating  "  a  conscience  void 
of  offence."  If  we  would  unlock  the  gate  of 
Paradise,  we  must  look  for  the  key  where  it  is 
to  be  found.  We  may  rest  assured  that  it  can- 
not be  found  in  an  uncultivated  field  of  brambles 
and  briers,  nor  amid  the  rubbish  of  a  misspent 
life.  Yet,  to  find  it,  only  requires  diligent 
search.  Though  every  thing  beautiful,  every 
thing  noble,  every  thing  sublime,  may  lie  in  the 
distance,  yet  it  is  attainable.  It  is  the  ultimatum 
that  we  should  seek,  —  something  substantial, 
something  eternal.  Mere  fame  is  nothing 
worth.  It  is  a  thing  of  earth,  and  not  of 
heaven. 

There  may  be  an  innate  feeling  or  principle 


LIFE  AND  ITS  ASPIRATIONS.  179 

that  constitutes  what  is  called  conscience ;  yet 
it  must  be  conceded  that  conscience  is  practically 
but  the  product  or  outgrowth  of  education,  and 
may  therefore  be  so  moulded  as  to  become  the 
just  or  unjust  judge  of  the  moral  questions  which 
involve  both  our  present  and  future  welfare. 
How  important,  then,  that  this  judge  should  not 
only  be  a  righteous,  but  an  educated  judge,  famil- 
iar with  the  principles  of  right  and  wrong,  and 
stern  in  the  application  of  them.  In  a  word, 
conscience  is  the  central  life  of  character,  —  the 
silent  monitor  within  our  own  breasts,  whose 
moral  influence  controls  our  destiny. 

The  law  of  love  may  be  regarded  as  the 
great  law  which  underlies  all  law,  because  it  is 
divine.  In  fact,  love  is  the  law  that  pervades 
the  universe ;  and,  in  itself,  is  sufficiently  indic- 
ative of  our  moral  obligations.  He  who  is 
governed  by  it,  cannot  err.  It  is  not,  however, 
what  we  do  for  ourselves,  but  rather  what  we 
do  for  others,  that  can  afford  the  most  substan- 
tial happiness.  If  you  would  receive,  you  must 
give,  influenced  by  a  kind  and  generous  spirit. 
"  Overcome  evil  with  good."  In  this  way,  like 
a  moral  Alexander,  you  may  conquer  the  world. 

It  is  doubtless  true  that  conscience,  being 
essentially  the  outgrowth  of  education,  is  ever 
in  a  formative  state,  and  may  therefore  be 
strengthened  and  elevated  in  its  moral  percep- 


180  NATURE  AND  CULTURE. 

tions  by  culture.  The  more  perfect  its  judg- 
ment, the  more  perfect  the  man  or  woman. 
There  can  be  no  religion  without  conscience  ; 
nor  can  there  be  conscience  without  religion. 
The  one  is  a  counterpart  of  the  other;  and 
equally  true  is  it,  that  the  character  of  the  one 
reflects  the  character  of  the  other. 

A  true  religion  does  not  consist  in  a  mere 
profession  of  faith,  nor  in  church  membership, 
but  in  that  which  is  the  leading  principle  of  our 
lives ;  in  that  which  binds  us  to  achieve  an  ulti- 
mate aim ;  in  that  which  calls  into  exercise  all 
our  moral  powers,  and  harmonizes  our  lives  with 
the  requisitions  of  the  divine  law.  Yet  any 
religion  is  better  than  none.  Even  the  pagan 
is  not  destitute  of  a  religion  of  some  sort,  how- 
ever debased  it  may  be.  It  is  simply  the  refine- 
ment of  a  higher  civilization  which  has  made 
the  difference  between  the  pagan  and  the  Chris- 
tian. Nothing  can  be  more  important,  there- 
fore, than  the  kind  of  education  which  is  be- 
stowed on  us  in  childhood,  or  the  kind  of  self- 
culture  which  we  choose  to  bestow  on  ourselves. 
And  though  circumstances  may  be  adverse  to 
our  interests,  it  is  our  duty  to  conquer  circum- 
stances, and  take  into  our  own  hands  the  fab- 
rication of  our  fortunes.  In  this  life  every 
day  brings  with  it  new  lessons;  and  though  some 
of  them  may  be  pernicious,  all  of  them  have 


LIFE  AND  ITS  ASPIRATIONS.  181 

their  value.  If  there  were  nothing  evil,  there 
would  be  nothing  good  ;  for  the  reason  that 
there  would  be  no  contrast,  no  standard  of  com- 
parison. And  yet  between  good  and  evil  there 
is  no  half-way  house,  no  "  happy  medium." 

In  every  question  of  right  and  wrong  there 
are  but  two  sides.  The  one  or  the  other  we 
must  take,  either  directly  or  indirectly.  We 
cannot  take  a  neutral  stand  if  we  would ;  nor 
can  we  identify  ourselves  with  both  sides.  Sin- 
cerity and  hypocrisy  are  not  born  of  the  same 
parentage,  and  cannot,  therefore,  walk  hand  in 
hand,  nor  take  the  same  social  position.  They 
are  marked  by  a  different  sign,  and  by  their 
sign  they  are  readily  recognized.  Appear  where 
they  will,  the  one  will  be  respected,  the  other 
despised. 

If  you  would  excel  in  any  thing,  in  any  par- 
ticular pursuit,  you  must  first  resolve  to  excel ; 
and  then  persevere,  cost  what  it  will.  If  you 
encounter  lions  in  your  path,  exterminate  them. 
In  ascending  mountains  make  difficulties  your 
stepping-stones,  and  never  look  back  until  you 
reach  the  summit,  and  can  breathe  freely  in  a 
pure  atmosphere.  If  you  would  reach  the  stars, 
construct  your  own  ladder,  and  climb  until  you 
not  only  reach  them,  but  are  crowned  with 
them.  The  soul  never  becomes  truly  heroic 
until  it  becomes  truly  Godlike  in  its  aspirations 
and  purposes. 


182  NATURE  AND  CULTURE. 

It  is  only  in  the  practice  of  the  cardinal  vir- 
tues,—  prudence,  justice,  temperance,  forti- 
tude, —  that  we  acquire  that  divine  power  which 
alone  can  make  us  divine.  It  is  only  in  the  adop- 
tion of  lofty  aims  that  we  can  expect  to  reach  a 
lofty  ideal.  Every  thing  is  possible  to  him  who 
has  resolved  to  make  it  possible.  In  other 
words,  where  there  is  a  will  there  is  a  way. 
The  will  is  the  motive-power :  if  this  be  want- 
ing, then  all  is  wanting  that  goes  to  make  up 
the  character  of  an  heroic  soul.  The  world 
needs  moral  as  well  as  physical  heroes,  —  heroes 
who  know  their  dutj7,  and  dare  do  it.  In  the 
battle  of  life  none  but  the  wise  and  the  valiant 
can  be  safely  intrusted  with  the  command. 
The  hostile  powers  of  darkness,  of  ignorance, 
of  superstition,  challenge  the  field,  and  cannot 
be  overcome  without  a  severe  conflict.  The 
crisis  has  come.  Whether  armed  or  unarmed, 
you  must  meet  the  foe ;  for  results  you  must 
trust  in  yourselves.  It  will  never  do  to  trust 
in  shields,  in  breastplates,  in  fire-arms,  or  in 
faith  without  works.  If  you  would  conquer, 
you  must  go  into  battle  inspired  with  lofty 
aims,  and  with  a  divine  enthusiasm ;  then 
will  victory  perch  on  your  standard,  and  the 
eagle  of  freedom,  fire-eyed,  pierce  the  sun. 

And  yet  you  should  remember  that  in  your 
attempts  to  achieve  success,  you  must  deserve 


LIFE  AND  ITS  ASPIRATIONS,  183 

success.  It  is  only  in  severe  moral  discipline 
that  you  can  see  what  you  need,  and  acquire 
what  you  need,  —  eminent  virtue,  industry,  and 
sagacity.  In  social  life,  be  social,  amiable,  and 
accomplished;  in  domestic  life,  be  something 
more,  —  be  kind,  considerate,  and  sympathetic. 
Whether  you  have  one  or  more  talents,  improve 
them :  they  will  grow  brighter  by  constant  use. 
Whatever  may  be  your  capacities,  never  indulge 
in  vain  aspirations.  However  seductive  the 
temptations  which  may  beset  you,  never  com- 
promise your  integrity.  However  ambitious 
you  may  be  in  your  ultimate  aims,  regard  a  good 
moral  character  as  of  infinite  value.  Always 
true  to  yourselves,  be  true  to  others.  Place 
implicit  confidence  in  no  one,  but  confide  in  the 
strength  of  your  own  individuality.  In  adver- 
sity be  hopeful,  and  always  look  on  the  bright 
side  of  things. 

In  selecting  a  profession  or  business  for  life, 
be  governed  by  your  natural  taste  or  capacity, — 
your  peculiar  talent  for  this  or  that  pursuit.  If 
embarrassed  by  circumstances,  never  yield  to 
them,  but  resolve  to  excel  in  whatever  you 
undertake.  Perseverance  is  the  secret  of  suc- 
cess. If  born  with  the  gift  of  genius,  make  it 
available  ;  do  something  new ;  invent  something 
new ;  and,  in  this  way,  bequeath  something 
valuable  to  mankind.  In  other  words,  live  for 


184  NATURE  AND  CULTURE. 

mankind,  and,  if  need  be,  die  for  mankind. 
Adopt  this  as  the  religious  sentiment  of  your 
life,  and  act  in  accordance  with  it,  and  your 
works  will  sufficiently  attest  the  purity  of  your 
faith. 

And  yet  you  are  not  required  to  crucify  your- 
selves; but,  on  the  contrary,  it  is  your  duty, 
while  striving  to  live  for  others,  to  live  for  your- 
selves, and  thus  make  yourselves  and  your 
homes  as  happy  as  possible.  It  is  not  in  the 
shade,  but  in  the  sunshine,  that  you  should  seek 
to  live.  It  is  only  the  now  of  life,  the  fleeting 
present,  of  which  you  are  certain.  If,  then,  you 
would  be  prosperous,  if  you  would  be  happy, 
if  you  would  look  to  the  future  with  a  pleasing 
hope,  so  live  as  to  feel  that  you  are  sustained, 
in  all  you  do,  by  an  approving  conscience,  and 
by  the  divine  counsels  of  Infinite  Wisdom.  It 
is  only  by  living  thus  that  you  can  make  life  on 
earth  what  it  should  be,  —  a  heaven-life. 

He  who  made  all  things  has  made  no  dis- 
tinction between  heaven  and  earth.  It  is  man 
that  has  made  the  distinction.  The  natural 
atmosphere  which  surrounds  the  earth  is  pure 
and  healthful :  it  is  only  the  moral  atmosphere 
that  has  become  impure  and  deleterious.  It 
needs  no  chemical  agencies  to  purify  it.  It 
must  be  purified,  if  at  all,  by  moral  agencies. 
In  other  words,  we  must  recognize  our  obliga- 


LIFE  AND  ITS  ASPIRATIONS.  185 

tions  to  our  fellow-men,  and  obey  the  "  Golden 
Rule  "  as  prescribed  by  the  law  of  love,  if  we 
would  succeed  in  making  earth  a  heaven. 

Almost  every  American  of  culture  has  an 
object  in  view  for  which  he  lives,  some  ultimate 
aim  or  aspiration  which  stimulates  him  to 
effort.  It  may  be  a  desire  to  excel  in  some  one 
of  the  learned  professions,  or  to  become  a  million- 
naire,  a  hero  in  the  battle-field,  a  Solon  in  the 
halls  of  legislation,  perhaps  president  of  the 
United  States.  In  attempting  achievements  of 
this  character,  it  should  be  remembered  that 
knowledge  is  the  basis  of  success.  It  is  knowl- 
edge that  gives  power,  and  wisdom  that  should 
direct  us  in  wielding  it.  Yet  a  man  may  be 
learned,  and  still  be  a  cipher  in  the  world. 
God  gave  to  man  a  divine  outline,  and  then  left 
him  to  perfect  himself,  at  least  in  a  mental 
sense.  This  he  must  do,  or  remain  an  animal, 
and  "feed  on  husks." 

Nearly  all  our  great  men  are  self-made  men. 
This  is  true  of  Washington,  Franklin,  Jefferson, 
and  scores  of  others,  who,  like  them,  have 
acquired  an  enviable  renown.  Thus,  in  all 
ages  of  the  world,  have  men  of  lofty  aspirations 
reached  lofty  standpoints,  and  immortalized 
their  names. 

It  is  somewhat  surprising,  however,  that  most 
of  our  American  graduates  look  to  the  learned 


186  NATURE  AND  CULTURE. 

professions,  rather  than  to  a  practical  business 
life,  as  affording  the  widest  field  for  the  acquisi- 
tion of  wealth  and  high  social  position.  This, 
it  seems  to  me,  is  a  great  mistake,  nine  cases 
in  ten.  Not  more  than  one  professional  man  in 
ten  ever  rises  above  mediocrity  in  his  profes- 
sion, while  the  remaining  nine  generally  regard 
themselves  as  fortunate  if  they  succeed  in  ac- 
quiring a  comfortable  livelihood. 

In  fact,  the  learned  professions  have  yet  to 
learn  that  the  supply  exceeds  the  demand. 
And  hence  there  is  but  little  use  in  attempting 
to  shine  as  a  "star"  in  any  of  the  professions, 
unless  you  have  a  sufficient  brilliancy  to  take 
rank  as  a  "  star  of  the  first  magnitude." 

And  yet  we  cannot  have  too  many  men  of 
liberal  education  :  the  more  the  better.  They 
are  needed  in  every  pursuit  in  life,  and  in  every 
place.  It  is  not  the  occupation  that  dignifies  a 
man,  but  the  man  that  dignifies  the  occupation. 
When  you  have  chosen  a  pursuit,  whatever  it 
may  be,  aim  high.  Yes,  — 

"  Give  me  a  man  with  an  aim, 

Whatever  that  aim  may  be ; 
Whether  it's  wealth,  or  whether  it's  fame, 

It  matters  not  to  me. 
Let  him  walk  in  the  path  of  right, 
And  keep  his  aim  in  sight, 
And  work  and  pray  in  faith  alway, 
With  his  eye  on  the  glittering  height. 


LIFE  AND  ITS  ASPIRATIONS.  187 

Give  me  a  man  who  says, 

"  I  will  do  something  well, 
And  make  the  fleeting  days 

A  story  of  labor  tell." 
Though  aim  he  has  be  small, 
It  is  better  than  none  at  all  : 
With  something  to  do  the  whole  year  through, 
He  will  not  stumble  or  fall. 

But  Satan  weaves  a  snare 

For  the  feet  of  those  who  stray 
With  never  a  thought  or  care 

Where  the  path  may  lead  away. 
The  man  who  has  no  aim, 
Not  only  leaves  no  name 
When  this  life  is  done,  but,  ten  to  one, 
He  leaves  a  record  of  shame. 


me  a  man  whose  heart 
Is  filled  with  ambition's  fire  ; 
Who  sets  his  mark  in  the  start, 

And  keeps  moving  higher  and  higher. 
Better  to  die  in  the  strife, 
The  hands  with  labor  rife, 
Than  to  glide  with  the  stream  in  an  idle  dream, 
And  lead  a  purposeless  life. 

Better  to  strive  and  climb, 

And  never  reach  the  goal, 
Than  to  drift  along  with  time,  — 

An  aimless,  worthless  soul. 
Ay,  better  to  climb  and  fall, 
Or  sow,  though  the  yield  be  small, 
Than  to  throw  away  day  after  day, 
And  never  strive  at  all." 


MISSION  MONUMENT  AND  ITS 
DEDICATION. 


MISSION  MONUMENT  AND   ITS   DEDI- 
CATION. 

JUNE  28,  1867. 

IN  the  accomplishment  of  great  moral  pur- 
poses, a  Divine  Providence  employs  human  in- 
strumentalities. Of  this  we  have  ample  evi- 
dence, not  only  in  the  history  of  nations,  but  in 
the  career  of  individuals. 

A  little  more  than  eighteen  centuries  ago  a 
few  obscure  fishermen,  while  casting  their  nets 
into  the  Sea  of  Galilee,  were  called  to  abandon 
their  nets,  and  become  "  fishers  of  men." 

A  little  more  than  sixty  years  ago  a  few 
obscure  young  men,  while  pursuing  their  clas- 
sical studies  in  Williams  College,  were  called  to 
go  into  benighted  lands  beyond  the  sea,  and 
proclaim  the  divine  doctrine  of  "  peace  on  earth 
and  good  will  to  men." 

These  students,  though  unknown  to  fame, 
were  young  men  of  thought,  and  of  high  moral 
aspirations.  Influenced  by  a  devotional  spirit, 
they  felt  that  God  had  a  great  work  for  them  to 
do;  and  that  it  was,  therefore,  important  for 


192  NATURE  AND  CULTURE. 

them  to  comprehend  their  true  relations,  both 
to  God  and  to  man. 

What  was  the  precise  character  of  the  great 
work  assigned  them,  they  did  not  seem  to  know  ; 
and  for  this  reason  they  sought  for  more  light, 
and  for  guidance  from  the  Mighty  Counsellor, 
whose  wisdom  is  infinite,  and  who  cannot  err. 
In  seeking  for  that  knowledge  which  "  cometh 
from  above,"  they  were  accustomed,  in  the 
milder  months  of  the  year,  to  hold  occasional 
prayer-meetings  in  the  solitudes  of  Nature,  be- 
lieving that 

"  The  groves  were  God's  first  temples." 

And  doubtless  they  felt  that  the  Divine  Pres- 
ence dwells  more  essentially  in  the  silent  sanc- 
tuaries of  Nature  than  in  "  temples  made  with 
hands." 

It  was  here,  within  the  quiet  and  cool  retreat 
of  the  maple-grove  in  which  we  are  now  assem- 
bled, that  they  had  convened,  at  the  close  of  a 
sultry  summer-day,  in  the  year  1806,  to  hold 
the  accustomed  prayer-meeting,  when  they  were 
overtaken  by  a  sudden  shower  of  rain,  and 
compelled  to  seek  the  friendly  shelter  afforded 
them  \>y  a  neighboring  haystack. 

The  group  of  young  evangelists  who  were 
present  at  the  prayer-meeting  on  this  particular 
occasion,  consisted  of  Samuel  J.  Mills,  James 


MISSION  MONUMENT:  ITS  DEDICATION.     193 

Richards,  Francis  L.  Robbins,  Harvey  Loomis, 
and  Byram  Green.  Protected  from  the  rain  by 
the  haystack,  they  continued,  amid  the  conflict 
of  the  elements,  their  devotional  exercises,  and 
also  discussed  religious  topics  of  deep  interest 
to  themselves  and  to  the  world.  It  was  a  sub- 
lime moment  for  them  and  for  the  world.  The 
heavens  were  darkened ;  the  lightnings  flashed ; 
dread  thunders  rolled ;  the  rain  fell ;  yet,  amid 
this  conflict  of  the  elements,  there  came  "  a  still 
small  voice,"  as  if  from  the  storm-cloud.  It 
was  a  divine  whisper,  an  inspired  thought,  which 
stirred  the  life-currents  in  the  heart  of  Mills, 
and  diffused  upon  his  brow  a  celestial  radiance. 
That  inspired  thought,  broad  as  the  earth  in  its 
comprehension,  Mills  announced  to  his  devout 
companions.  They  felt  its  divinity,  and  regarded 
it  as  a  divine  communication.  At  the  instance 
of  Mills,  they  knelt  in  prayer,  and  besought 
divine  aid  and  guidance  in  executing  the  great 
work  which  they  now  believed  had  been  re- 
vealed to  them.  It  was  nothing  less  than  a 
mission  to  some  foreign  heathen  land,  and  the 
ultimate  evangelization  of  the  world.  In  offer- 
ing up  the  last  prayer  at  this  meeting,  so  enthu- 
siastic became  Mills,  that  he  invoked  "  the  red 
artillery  of  heaven  to  strike  down  the  arm  that 
should  be  raised  against  a  herald  of  the  cross." 
And  now,  as  the  storm-cloud  passed  away, 

13 


194  NATURE  AND  CULTURE. 

the  skies  became  bright  and  serene  ;  the  air  was 
pure  and  fragrant  as  balm.  The  raindrops,  like 
jewels,  glittered  on  the  leaves  in  the  grove,  and 
on  the  grass  and  wild-flowers  in  the  meadows. 
In  short,  the  smile  of  Heaven  was  reflected  in 
the  face  of  Nature.  And  the  sublimity  of  the 
scene,  as  it  may  be  supposed,  was  heightened 
by  the  appearance  of  a  rainbow  in  the  east, 
that  glorious  emblem  of  a  divine  love,  which  is 
so  ample  in  its  character  as  to  embrace  within 
its  golden  circle  the  great  world  of  mankind,  of 
"  every  nation,  kindred,  and  tongue." 

As  these  inspired  young  men  of  the  haystack 
wended  their  way  back  to  the  college  halls, 
they  "  pondered  these  things  in  their  hearts," 
and  communicated  their  thoughts  to  such  of 
their  fellow-students  as  they  believed  would 
sympathize  with  them  in  the  desire  they  felt  to 
consecrate  their  lives  to  the  great  work  of 
foreign  missions,  and  especially  a  mission  to 
India.  Several  of  their  associates  became  at 
once  inspired  with  a  similar  missionary  spirit. 
But  as  yet  the  interest  felt  in  this  new  enter- 
prise was  restricted  to  the  circle  of  the  "  Society 
of  Brethren,"  as  it  was  designated.  This  soci- 
ety was  a  secret  organization,  composed  of  such 
students  as  had  made  a  profession  of  religion, 
and  had  for  its  object  the  promotion  of  the 
spiritual  welfare  of  its  members.  In  pursuance 


MISSION  MONUMENT:  ITS  DEDICATION.    195 

of  this  object,  they  held  private  prayer-meetings 
in  each  others'  rooms,  and  discussed  questions 
of  special  religious  interest ;  and  often,  in  the 
summer  season,  retired  for  the  same  purpose  to 
the  neighboring  groves. 

In  this  way  was  sown  the  first  grain  of  "  mus- 
tard seed,"  which  was  destined  soon  to  vege- 
tate and  grow  to  a  tree  of  gigantic  proportions. 
The  planting  of  this  "  smallest  of  all  seeds  " 
constituted  a  nucleus  for  more  extended  effort. 
Consequently,  other  societies  were  soon  organ- 
ized to  promote  the  good  work.  In  fact,  new 
life  was  breathed  into  the  "  dry  bones  "of  every 
valley;  and  heaven  repeated  the  command, 
"  Go,  teach  all  nations." 

The  grand  result  of  this  day  of  "small 
things  "  was  the  organization,  at  Bradford,  in 
1810,  of  the  American  Board  of  Commissioners 
for  Foreign  Missions,  —  an  organization  which, 
under  the  direction  and  favor  of  a  Divine  Provi- 
dence, has  achieved  so  much  for  the  civilization 
and  evangelization  of  the  benighted  races  of 
mankind.  Of  this  we  need  adduce  no  other 
proof  than  the  leading  facts  of  its  history. 

In  its  inception,  this  Board  consisted  of  but 
few  members.  At  its  first  meeting  there  were 
but  five  members  present ;  and  at  its  second,  but 
seven.  Its  receipts  for  the  first  year  were  but 
a  thousand  dollars.  Now  its  annual  receipts 


196  NATURE  AND   CULTURE. 

exceed  a  half  million  of  dollars,  and  its  annual 
meetings  are  attended  by  thousands  of  people. 
In  the  aggregate,  it  has  collected  and  disbursed 
nearly  twelve  millions  of  dollars.  It  has  never 
lost  a  dollar  by  the  fraud  or  embezzlement  of 
any  of  its  officers  or  agents.  Since  its  first 
meeting  of  five  persons,  in  1810,  its  corporate 
members  have  been  increased  to  two  hundred, 
and  its  honorary  members  to  seventeen  thousand. 

It  has  sent  into  the  missionary  field  thirteen 
hundred  persons  in  various  capacities,  including 
nearly  five  hundred  ordained  missionaries.  It 
has  established  missions  in  almost  every  be- 
nighted region  of  the  habitable  globe,  especially 
in  the  eastern  hemisphere,  —  in  India,  in  China, 
in  Persia,  in  Syria,  in  Greece,  in  Turkey,  in 
Africa,  and  also  in  several  isles  of  the  sea, 
including  the  Sandwich  Islands.  It  has  more 
than  a  hundred  missionary  stations,  and  nearly 
two  hundred  out-stations  occupied  by  native 
helpers.  It  has  in  the  native  ministry  three 
hundred  Christian  converts,  about  seventy  of 
whom  are  pastors  of  churches.  These  native 
Christian  churches  have  now  increased  to  two 
hundred,  in  communion  with  which  more  than 
sixty  thousand  hopeful  converts  have  been 
received. 

It  has  printing  presses,  which  have  printed 
more    than  a  thousand    millions    of  pages  of 


MISSION  MONUMENT:  ITS  DEDICATION.     197 

religious  and  educational  matter,  which  has  been 
distributed  in  forty-two  living  languages,  as 
now  spoken  in  pagan  and  other  unevangelized 
lands.  It  has  invented  alphabets,  and  reduced 
eighteen  native  languages  to  writing.  It  has 
put  in  successful  operation  more  than  four  hun- 
dred native  schools,  in  which  more  than  twelve 
thousand  native  children  have  been  taught. 
All  this  has  been  done  in  less  than  sixty  years, 
and  still  the  great  work  progresses  with  increas- 
ing zeal  and  efficiency. 

Thus  has  the  Board  proved  itself  to  be,  in 
the  providence  of  God,  a  great  moral  power  in 
the  nineteenth  century.  It  is  the  star  in  the 
West,  which  flings  its  cheering  light  into  the 
East.  The  wise  men  have  seen  it,  and  the  shep- 
herds have  seen  it.  Like  the  star  of  Bethle- 
hem, its  errand  is  divine  ;  for  it  was  born  of  an 
inspired  thought  which  has  now  become  an 
invincible  element  in  the  moral  world, — a  power 
which  must  and  will  do  its  work ;  and  though 
opposition  and  discouragement  may  come,  — 

"  Truth  crushed  to  earth  shall  rise  again." 

Yes,  millions  of  Christian  heroes  will  come  to 
the  rescue,  still  bearing  aloft  the  banner  of  the 
cross,  and  shouting  the  battle-cry  of  civil  and 
religious  freedom.  And  woman,  first  at  the 
sepulchre,  first  in  deeds  of  charity,  first  in  every 


198  NATURE  AND  CULTURE. 

good  work,  will  renew  her  activities  in  the  great 
warfare  with  moral  darkness,  until  the  "  utter- 
most parts  of  the  earth  "  have  been  illuminated 
with  the  light  of  divine  truth. 

It  is  expected,  perhaps,  that  some  allusion 
will  be  made  to  the  motive  which  has  induced 
the  erection  of  the  monument  you  see  standing 
before  you  in  its  modest,  yet  truthful  signifi- 
cance. The  motive  was  simply  a  desire  felt  in 
common  with  many  other  persons  to  see  a  spot 
which  has  become  sacred  in  missionary  history, 
commemorated  by  some  permanent  expression 
of  Christian  gratitude.  An  expression  of  this 
kind  seemed  due,  not  only  to  the  great  and  good 
cause  of  American  Foreign  Missions,  but  to  the 
revered  memories  of  the  five  young  men  of 
prayer,  who  knelt  here,  under  shelter  of  the 
haystack,  and  received  from  on  high  a  divine 
commission.  And  permit  me  to  add,  that  the 
filial  regard  I  entertain  for  my  Alma  Mater,  and 
for  my  native  State  of  Massachusetts,  has  had 
its  influence  in  disposing  me  to  make  this  con- 
tribution to  a  heaven-born  enterprise,  and  in 
remembrance  of  those  truly  good,  and  therefore 
truly  great  men,  whose  names  are  inscribed  on 
the  monument.  The  plan  of  the  monument, 
as  well  as  its  erection  here,  it  gives  me  pleasure 
to  state,  has  received  the  cordial  approval  of 
the  faculty  and  trustees  of  the  college.  The 


MISSION  MONUMENT:  ITS  DEDICATION.    199 

grand  object  for  which  the  monument  has  been 
erected,  is  the  commemoration  of  the  "  birth- 
place of  American  Foreign  Missions  ; "  and  to 
this  object  we  now  dedicate  it,  in  the  name  of 
a  Christian  philanthropy,  whose  "  field  is  the 
world." 

In  its  character,  the  monument  is  not  less 
unique  than  emblematical.  It  stands  on  the 
identical  spot  where  the  haystack  stood.  As  a 
specimen  of  fine  material  and  artistic  sculpture, 
it  is  strictly  a  Berkshire  production,  composed 
of  Berkshire  marble  quarried  at  Alford,  and 
wrought  in  the  workshops  of  "  The  Berkshire 
Marble  Company."  Its  entire  height  is  twelve 
feet ;  its  shaft,  cap,  and  base,  square  ;  its  surface 
polished ;  its  color  a  silver-blue.  It  is  sur- 
mounted with  a  globe,  three  feet  in  diameter, 
traced  in  geographical  lines.  On  its  eastern 
face,  and  immediately  below  the  globe,  are 
inscribed  these  words,  "  The  Field  is  the  World." 
Then  follows  a  similitude  of  the  haystack, 
sculptured  in  bas-relief,  and  encircled  with  these 
words,  "  The  Birthplace  of  American  Foreign 
Missions,  1806."  And  beneath  this,  appear  the 
names  of  the  five  young  men  who  held  the 
prayer-meeting  under  the  shelter  of  the  hay- 
stack. The  maple-grove,  amid  whose  cool 
shadows  we  now  stand,  is  the  same  grove  from 
which  the  five  heavenly-minded  young  men 
were  driven  by  the  impending  rain-storm. 


200  NATURE  AND  CULTURE. 

This  maple-grove,  which  has  now  become 
ever  memorable,  is  included  within  the  bounda- 
ries of  Mission  Park.  The  park  contains  ten 
acres,  and  was  purchased  on  account  of  its  his- 
torical interest,  and  made  part  of  the  domains 
of  Williams  College.  It  is  the  design  of  the 
friends  of  the  college  to  embellish  the  park  with 
specimens  of  the  trees  and  shrubs  and  flowers 
of  every  foreign  land  to  which  missionaries 
have  been  sent  by  the  American  Board,  so  far, 
at  least,  as  such  specimens  can  be  successfully 
acclimated  in  this  country. 

When  its  embellishments  have  been  perfected 
Mission  Park  will  become  a  place  of  delightful 
resort,  full  of  sacred  memories,  which  will 
accumulate  and  grow  in  interest  with  the  lapse 
of  time.  Every  year  will  bring  within  its  in- 
viting precincts  hundreds  of  pilgrims,  and  every 
college  commencement  its  missionary  jubilee. 
Then  will  Mission  Park  possess,  not  only  an 
attractive  aspect,  but  a  moral  power  which  will 
awaken  a  renewed  zeal  in  behalf  of  missions. 
And  here  may  this  consecrated  monument, 
which  is  so  expressive  of  a  highly  interesting 
fact  in  the  history  of  missions,  ever  remain  as 
an  educator  of  coming  generations,  and  as  a 
landmark  in  the  pathway  of  the  citizen,  the 
student,  and  the  stranger.  And  here  let  the 
moral  hero  of  the  present,  and  of  the  future, 


MISSION  MONUMENT:  ITS  DEDICATION.    201 

stay  his  steps,  and  make  still  higher  and  holier 
resolves.  Nor  let  us  of  the  present  generation 
forget  that  we  have  a  great  work  still  to  accom- 
plish in  the  moral  field,  — a  field  which  is  as  broad 
as  the  earth,  and  in  which  we  ought  to  renew 
our  diligence,  —  feeling  assured,  that,  with  the 
final  triumph  of  truth,  will  come  universal  free- 
dom, universal  love,  and  universal  brother- 
hood. 

It  is  due  to  Williams  College  to  say  that  her 
educational  and  Christian  influences  have  ever 
been  directed  by  a  benevolent  and  philanthropic 
spirit,  —  a  spirit  that  burned  on  the  prayerful  lips 
of  Mills  at  the  haystack,  and  which  has  inspired 
with  heroic  zeal,  in  the  cause  of  truth,  thousands 
of  human  souls  throughout  our  western  hemi- 
sphere. Humble  as  the  college  may  have  been 
in  its  infancy,  time  and  the  favor  of  Heaven 
have  made  it  a  power  in  the  land.  In  every 
department  of  literature  and  of  science  it  has 
furnished  mental  giants,  who  have  made  their 
mark  in  the  world.  In  addition  to  this,  it  has 
sent  forth  its  thousands  of  faithful  workers, 
who  are  engaged,  far  and  near,  in  pulling  down 
the  strongholds  of  error,  and  in  building  up  in 
their  stead  towers  of  strength,  founded  on  a 
Christian  basis.  In  its  teachings  of  literature 
and  of  science,  it  teaches  those  still  higher  and 
diviner  principles  which  give  to  man  the  graces 


202  NATURE  AND  CULTURE. 

of  a  true  manhood.  In  a  word,  its  refining  and 
harmonizing  influences  are  felt,  not  only  by  its 
sons,  but  by  thousands  of  others,  the  world  over. 
Few  indeed,  are  the  "men  who  have  wielded  a 
more  extensive  influence  for  good,  or  contributed 
more  to  the  permanent  value  of  our  theological 
literature,  than  the  learned  and  venerated  Pres- 
ident of  Williams  College,  Dr.  Hopkins. 

Though  the  world  owes  much  more  to  the 
efforts  and  vigilance  of  the  faculty  and  trustees 
of  Williams  College  than  it  has  ever  acknowl- 
edged, yet  these  patient,  earnest,  and  hopeful 
men  will  continue  to  work  on  in  silence,  still 
inspired  with  the  belief,  that  in  casting  "  a 
handful  of  corn  in  the  earth,  upon  the  top  of 
the  mountains,  the  fruit  thereof  shall  shake  like 
Lebanon." 


LOAN  DEPT. 


LD  21A-50w-12  '60 
(B6221S10)476B 


.General  Library 

University  of  California 

Berkeley 


YB  06841 


